Saskia Calderón (b. 1981) is recognized for her songs evoking the Amazonian communities of Ecuador, presented in a style reminiscent of opera, interwoven with practices of listening to spirits and healing inherited from her ancestors.
Adopting the animistic perspective of the ‘all-living’, inherited from her family’s ancestral worldview, Calderón reminds us that all entities in nature are alive, from the most obvious to the most imperceptible.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Saskia Calderón: Sonata Vallisaari (Sonnet for Vallisaari), 2025 and Coro de la Selva (Jungle Choir), 2015, artwork location. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen
Coro de la Selva / Jungle Choir, 2015 & Sonata Vallisaari / Sonnet for Vallisaari, 2025
Artworks’ location: Vallisaari Island
Coro de la Selva is a melodic transcription dictated by Sionas, Cofánes and Secoyas spirits, based on an Indigenous worldview of the Ecuadorian Amazon, which reflects the presence of spirits and their influence on our lives, without distinguishing between the spiritual world and the physical. For its creation, Calderón listens to and transcribes the melodies dictated by the spirits of Northeastern Ecuador in the province of Sucumbíos. Using the collected sounds, the artist creates a chorus of multiple voices that are interpreted by a computer, detonating an inter-epistemic dialogue between the ethnic groups of the Amazon and Western culture.
Additionally, the artist has created a situated specific piece on Vallisaari Island, fusing her skills as an artist and soprano with her approach to shamanic practices. After spending a few days in this unique island ecosystem, she has composed a melody inspired by her experience of listening to the non-human spirits of the island and its living vegetation, rocks, water, animals and the various species that inhabit it. Visitors hear the work while sitting and relaxing, inviting them to connect with the sounds of spirits of the jungle and forms of communication that transcend the human.