SAN PEDRITO | LOUIDGI BELTRAME

Louidgi Beltrame’s artistic practice (Marseille, 1971) is specifically and persistently focused on the twentieth century, exploring and narrating the ways in which societies have been able to organize and develop. The filmmaker has traveled to emblematic cities—including Hiroshima, Brasília, Chandigarh, and Chernobyl—blending documentary reality with narrative elements that offer a reinterpretation of history.
The film Mesa curandera (2018, 2h 50m) serves as the context in which San Pedrito (2018) originates, a photograph that is part of a series documenting the journey that began in 2017 in Huancabamba, northern Peru—the narrative center of the film.

The protagonist of the photograph is an imposing cactus placed at the center of a lush garden, where dense vegetation seems to take over the courtyard of a house, barely visible in the background. This is no ordinary dwelling but the home of curandero José Levis Picón—a master of traditional shamanism—and the cactus itself is not just any cactus, but a ‘San Pedro’ specimen. The San Pedro is a plant traditionally known for its psychedelic effects, which in Chavín culture assumes the role of a sacred symbol. It is so valuable that it has been recognized as a national Cultural Heritage. The San Pedro flowers, white and nocturnal, lend a delicate appearance to an otherwise spiny and austere structure.
During the filming of Mesa curandera, Beltrame used an analog camera—its distinctive red and orange halos appearing at the edges of the images—a medium-format device to document the places he visited: from towering mountains to hidden corners of the garden, where medicinal plants and ritual tools merge into a single, evocative setting.

The journey of Louidgi Beltrame and José Levis Picón is one of discovery, during which the curandero transmits his knowledge to the artist through purification rituals and healing ceremonies performed in specific sacred areas. The Mesa, a multicolored bundle filled with objects and stones imbued with power and energy, is used under the curandero’s guidance to undertake a spiritual path. This experience was personally lived by the artist, who embarked on it with the goal of spiritual renewal: in Mesa curandera and, by extension, in San Pedrito, artistic narration merges with shamanic wisdom in a dialogue between ancient rituals and contemporary language, highlighting how the memory of the past continues to influence the present incessantly.

Louidgi Beltrame
San Pedrito, 2018
Color photography, analogical print mounted on aluminium and wood, 124 x 152 cm
Courtesy the artist and Jousse Entreprise Gallery, Paris

22/02/25