El-[Rey]-de-costillas llega (Tu’u Ko Iho).Triptico del Rey Hotu Matu’a. Proyecto Isla de Pascua. Mahatu o’te mata’a [The King with Skeletal Appearance Arrives (Tu’u Ko Iho). Triptych of the King Hotu Matu’a. Easter Island Project. Third of the Month].

Image 1: El-[Rey]-de-costillas llega (Tu’u Ko Iho).Triptico del Rey Hotu Matu’a. Proyecto Isla de Pascua. Mahatu o’te mata’a [The King with Skeletal Appearance Arrives (Tu’u Ko Iho). Triptych of the King Hotu Matu’a. Easter Island Project. Third of the Month].
Dated 1993. Watercolor and pastel on paper.

Hotu Matu’a was the legendary first settler and ariki mau (“supreme chief” or “king”) of Easter Island and ancestor of the Rapa Nui people. According to New Zealand linguist and Easter Island historian Steven Roger Fischer, Tuꞌu Ko Iho co-founded the settlement on the island; in some versions of the Rapa Nui oral tradition, he is also credited with bringing the statues to the island and making them walk. Fernando Birri may also be referencing the moai kavakava, a carved wooden figure from Rapa Nui representing an emaciated male ancestor or spirit, identifiable by its prominent ribcage and skull-like head. While Birri’s most prominent series from this period was Espejismos del Caribe [Mirages of the Caribbean], he was also exploring other mythologies of Latin America, as reflected in this work.

Image 2: El Rey Hotu Matu’a llega a Rapa Nui. Triptico del Rey Hotu Matu’a. Proyecto Isla de Pascua. Mahatu o’te mata’a [The King Hotu Matu’a arrives at Rapa Nui. Triptych of the King Hotu Matu’a. Easter Island Project. Third of the Month].
January 1, 1993. Pastel on paper.

Image 3: El fantasma del Rey Hotu Matu’a vuelve a Rapa Nui sobre un pez. Triptico del Rey Hotu Matu’a. Proyecto Isla de Pascua [The Ghost of the King Hotu Matu’a Comes Back to Rapa Nui on a Fish. Triptych of the King Hotu Matu’a. Easter Island Project].
January 2, 1993. Pastel on paper.

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Image 1 (Pink/Purple): A figure in deep purple with white-rimmed, crying eyes and a small, red-patterned cap, set against a bright coral-red background. A blue-green fish is at the bottom.

El-[Rey]-de-costillas llega (Tu'u Ko Iho).Triptico del Rey Hotu Matu'a. Proyecto Isla de Pascua. Mahatu o'te mata'a [The King with Skeletal Appearance Arrives (Tu'u Ko Iho). Triptych of the King Hotu Matu'a. Easter Island Project. Third of the Month].

Image 2 (Yellow/White): A figure rendered in white chalk with heavy black outline, wearing a black cap. The figure's lower half is submerged in a black shadow that forms the fish. The entire piece is set against a vibrant yellow background.

Image 3 (Red/Black): A dark, heavily textured figure wearing a red fez with a small flag, set against a distressed red and blue-green background. The figure has glowing white-rimmed eyes. Handwritten notes in Spanish appear at the bottom of each painting, identifying the works.

Birri, Fernando. Stanford Classes [cassette]. Fernando Birri Archive of Multimedia Arts 1925–2010. Box 40, cassette brd837985_01, minute 25:50. ↩
Ibid. ↩
Ibid., minute 05:05. See also: Birri, Fernando, Espejismos del Karibe. 1992. Fernando Birri Archive of Multimedia Arts 1925–2010, Box 9, Folder 18 “Exposición de fotoglifos en Fribourg.” ↩
Fernando Birri used multiple spellings for the Spanish terms fotoglifos and glifotronics [photoglyphs and glyphotronics], which he coined to describe his own experimental visual practices. ↩

“Fernando Birri (Argentina): The Roots of Documentary Realism.” Cinema and Social Change in Latin America: Conversations with Filmmakers, edited by Julianne Burton, University of Texas Press, 1986, p. 3. ↩
Ibid., p. 2. ↩
Sendros, Paraná. Fernando Birri. Centro Editor de América Latina, 1994, p. 26. ↩