La Vamperra, 2000’s

These entities have walked with me for years. Through painting, textile, performance, digital collage, and embodiment, I explore and become them. They serve as portals for public manifestation. These portals preserve intimacy, ambiguity, and play. Vamperra (vampire + perra) was born in the early 2000s in Lima, in goth/darkwave forums where racialized bodies were ridiculed. We weren’t allowed to be “vampires”—we became vamperros and vamperras, ugly, animalized, and othered. Cosmopolilla emerged as a playful term. It’s a combination of cosmopolita (cosmopolitan) and polilla (moth). This term signifies nightlife, desire, and cross-border movement. During Materia Gris residency (La Paz, 2022) inspired me to rework these terms. They transformed into lettering. Thanks to the advice of artist Rocio Chuquimia, they evolved into digital embroideries, stickers, and wearable pieces.

*La Vamperra*

Vamperra must-haves:

Glass Memento Bottle — A blood-red wine glass gifted by my friend Edith Romero before I moved to Sweden. Shared drinks and memories travel with me, turning any space (I choose )into home.

Skulls roots: Death as imagery/concept has been a companion throughout my practice. As a teenager obsessed with gore metal and horror; as a scared anxious child listening to the sounds of in the internal conflict in my country; as a young adult navigating (and becoming) chaos in the city; and as someone (re)creating Andean indigenous lineages—where mourning walks hand in hand with celebration, remembrance, the present past future and community.

First photo: José Figueroa

La Vamperra appeared in the duo show Gunnel & Anita (BAS Konsthall, 2022) with Valeria Montti Colque , curated by Ashik Zaman . Since then, she has reappeared in Valeria’s work: in her digital collage and video installation for Himlajorden på Picnic (Zinkensdamm and Skanstull stations, 2022–2023, commissioned by Region Stockholm Stockholm Region), and most recently in Mamita Montaña—a textile sculpture featured in Cosmonación (curated by Andrea Pacheco Pacheco for the Chilean Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2024) and Cosmonación-Modersberget ( Bonniers Konsthall 2025, curated by Joanna Nordin & A. Pacheco).

Silence has never protected us (Sin Titulos, Konsthall C)

“Silence has never protected us – Live Action with Sarai Alvarez and Patricia Wallin
Part of my artistic writing residency in Konsthall C, 2021
curator: Ulrika FLink

Sin Nombre (Jag är vilden)

“SIN NOMBRE” – PERFORMANCE (EDSÅSDALEN, SWEDEN)
“Sin nombre” performance at “Konst-tid” organized by IntraGalactic arts collective (2019/ Edsåsdalen, Sweden)

more info: https://rossanaconda.com/portfolio/sin-nombre-performance-edsasdalen-sweden/

La Gozadera (La Dekoloniala!)

La gozadera: Festivity resilience and loudness
Live painting – ephemeral space invasion, Kungl. Konsthögskolan, 2019
With Spoken word by Princess Jimenez Beltre and Milagros Bedoya

Ekekas (Collective Hysterix)

Performance “Ekekas” Visviri, 2018
with collective Hysterix (https://www.instagram.com/hysterix_colectiva)
As part of “Giro Panfronterizo”, presented in Galeria Gabriela Mistral, Santiago de Chile 2019
With Cecilia Rejtman-Aliaga, Angélica Chávez-Cáceres, Rossana Mercado-Rojas

Collaborations with other artists

Characterization, make up and co-creation of costume for Valeria Montti Colque’s character Svarta Vilda Molnet
“El Rey gick ovan el Rainbow blev en vacker Rosa, fest måltid på Ekekas Mantel” by Valeria Montti Colque
temporary public art installation and public program.
Örebro Open Art & Statens Konstråd (2024)
photos by Jose Figueroa/ process photos by me.
Video edition by Alexis Szeiss

Blomstrande snölandskap (Blooming Snow Landscape)
Film by Alexis Szeiss and Valeria Montti Colque
One of the pieces presented as part of Valeria Montti Colque’s exhibition “Cosmonacion – Modersberget” Bonniers Konsthall, 2025. Curator Joanna Nordin.
still frames by Alexis Szeiss. 

Fragment of video “Blomstrande snölandskap” (Blooming Snow Landscape) by Alexis Szeiss and Valeria Montti Colque at “Cosmonación – Modersberget”- Bonniers Konsthall, 2025. Video recorded with my phone at the exhibition. Music and Video are not in sync. Information on the video art piece: Performers: Valeria Montti Colque, Sarai Alvarez Riveros, Nora Ordenes Söderberg and Rossana Mercado-Rojas Art direction and filmmaking: Alexis Zseiss Photography: Daniel Takacs