Yamile Calderon: Even Jesus Was Bipolar

Part of our Screening Room Programme. Yamile Calderon's film 'Even Jesus Was Bipolar'  is a documentary about Hernando Calderón, who recently, over the course of a year, went blind and was diagnosed as Bipolar.

Screening Room Programme

Online from 24 February to 16 March 2022

Invited by Carolina Lio

Even Jesus Was Bipolar is a documentary about Hernando Calderón, who recently and over the course of a year, went blind and was diagnosed as Bipolar. These new conditions in Hernando’s life, initially traumatic, gave way to a process of acceptance and understanding of his mental condition and blindness, which opened a new way to see the world and himself, giving him the opportunity to live a more meaningful life.

The scenes of dense forestry introduce the film, capturing the feeling of a dark and encompassing space, much like the blindness experienced by the film’s main subject. This calming, yet intriguing tone, continues throughout the duration of the film and allows for an intimate connection between the viewer and the narratives and themes expressed.

Through Hernando’s narration, there is an insight into the experience of blindness, of meditation and manic states, but also ultimately of acceptance.

"My practice is influenced by the documentary genre and focuses on personal stories... With these personal perspectives, I do not attempt to tell an objective story. My interest is rather to explore how a person experiences and remembers a specific event, and how this experience and recollection speaks of their immediate and broader social and cultural context... Working with personal stories or experiences is interesting for me because it generates a tension between the individual versus the collective. The individual as an accumulation of personal experiences. And the collective as the person who belongs in a cultural and socio-political context and a particular moment in history." - Yamile Calderon

Yamile was born in Colombia and lives and works in Oslo. She studied photography at Bergen National Academy of Arts. Yamile has recently published her second photo book, “Narcos & Homes”, and her video installation “Accidentally I got a GoPro” was awarded with Bildende Kunstneres Hjelpefonds (BKH) Fotokunstprisen (Photo Art Price) this year. Yamile has participated in various collective exhibitions and has presented her work international, at Photography Festival, Pingyao, China, in Hong Kong, Helsinki, Copenhagen, New York and Oslo, at Oslo Kunstforerning, Noplace, Fotogalleriet, Galleri BOA and Galleri Brandstrup.