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Virginia Leyva, a prominent voice in contemporary Mexican literature, addresses the socio-ecological crises of her homeland through a blend of colloquial and surreal imagery. Her poetry portrays a world teetering on the edge of collapse, reflecting themes of destruction, identity, and resilience. This introduction to her work in English highlights the challenges of translating Leyva’s deeply cultural and politically charged language. Through a collaborative process, translators Camilo Jaramillo and Julie Ann Ward grapple with the nuances of Leyva’s original Spanish, striving to preserve its rich cultural context while conveying its universal themes. The translated poems—“A Speck of Dust,” “The Kingdom of Silence,” “Pocket Universes,” and “Survivors”—capture Leyva’s haunting imagery and existential reflections, demonstrating her poetic exploration of ecological and societal decay. Their translation emphasizes both the specific Mexican context and the broader human experience, offering readers a poignant reflection on our fragile world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes three works that establish dialogues through their materiality, their work with temporality, and the theme of environmental disaster: La infancia del mundo (2023), a dystopian novel written by Michel Nieva; the photographic series Antropogénico (2023) by Daniel Taveira and the performance Mil (quase) Mortos: Boiúna (2019) by Uýra Sodoma. They are aesthetic practices that contrast in their ways of feeling, thinking, and acting on our planetary emergency as experienced in South America. Narration, photographs, and performance present relational and affective frameworks that dialogue with people involved in the growing devastation of the environment. The affective dimension of the corpus is analyzed based on the specific relationship with time. If Nieva and Taveira work on futurizations (Gatto), Uýra Sodoma refers to the precarious present—in Fabião’s sense—in a putrid Manaus. On the other hand, the dimension of affects in the subjects is part of the adaptation tools of the living thing observed at the inter-body level (Giorgi). In this essay, we study the bodies affected by risk imaginaries: some affections place perception as another mode of cognition and meaning (Depetris Chauvin and Taccetta). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resumen Desde un corpus a modo de trípode siempre inestable, colocamos en diálogo tres obras diversas en tres aspectos articulados: su materialidad, el trabajo con la temporalidad y el desastre ambiental como horizonte temático. La infancia del mundo (2023), novela distópica del escritor Michel Nieva; la serie fotográfica Antropogénico (2023) de Daniel Taveira y el registro de la performance Mil (quase) Mortos: Boiúna (2019) de Uýra Sodoma constituyen prácticas estéticas sudamericanas que se contraponen en sus modos de sentir, pensar y actuar ante la emergencia planetaria tal como se vive en nuestras latitudes. Narración, fotografías y performance presentan entramados relacionales y afectivos en diálogo con receptorxs activxs implicadxs en la creciente devastación del entorno. Analizaremos el espesor afectivo del corpus partiendo de la relación específica con el tiempo. Si Nieva y Taveira trabajan futurizaciones (Gatto), Uýra Sodoma se embebe de puro presente precario –en el sentido de Fabião– en un Manaos pútrido. Por otro lado, la dimensión de los afectos en lxs sujetxs del corpus es parte de las herramientas de adaptación de lo viviente observada a nivel de entre-cuerpos (Giorgi). Exploraremos los cuerpos afectados en estos imaginarios de extremo riesgo: en ellos se plantean efectos que sitúan a la percepción como otro modo de cognición y significación (Depetris Chauvin y Taccetta). Abstract This paper analyzes three diverse works in dialogue in three articulated aspects: their materiality, their work with temporality and environmental disaster as a theme: La infancia del mundo (2023), dystopian novel written by Michel Nieva; the photographic series Antropogénico (2023) by Daniel Taveira and the performance Mil (quase) Mortos: Boiúna (2019) by Uýra Sodoma. They are South American aesthetic practices that contrast in their ways of feeling, thinking and acting on the planetary emergency as it is experienced in our latitudes. Narration, photographs and performance present relational and affective frameworks that dialogue with recipients involved in the growing devastation of the environment. The affective dimension of the corpus is analyzed based on the specific relationship with time. If Nieva and Taveira work on futurizations (Gatto), Uýra Sodoma refers to the precarious present – in Fabião's sense – in a putrid Manaus. On the other hand, the dimension of affects in the subjects of the corpus is part of the adaptation tools of the living thing observed at the inter-body level (Giorgi). The bodies affected in risk imaginaries are studied: in them there are effects that place perception as another mode of cognition and meaning (Depetris Chauvin y Taccetta).