Memories of Chile | News
2020
Polypticon, mixed media on paper | variable dimensions.
In September 2020, Chile will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the election and government of socialist president Salvador Allende. With the pur- pose of commemoration and political analysis, the Chilean magazine Revista Rosa dedicated its issue Rosa#3 "Izquierda, Poder y Estado"- “The Left, the Power and the State”* - and commissioned me to make a series of paintings to illustrate the essays.
On the crossed path of historical memories of this period and the actual struggles of the chilean soci- ety, we found elements that represent the use of the public space in our country.
We wanted to carachterize not only the streets of Santiago de Chile in the early 70’s but to purpose a collective portrait through a depiction of our political landscape. The project evolved as a polypticon of paintings on paper and canvas, based on a given pool of documentary photographs and, in many of them, interwoven with texts and figures from other media referring to the demands of the current demonstrations.
This is the case in the series of four paintings on news, (Memories of Chile, News) and in two of the three paintings in a series on urban landscapes and political expression (Memories of Chile, City and Mobilisation),which can be seen on the following post.
"Lo Hermida 1971 / 2020”, a scene from a collective mural painted in the locality of Lo Hermida in 1971. Here the image of a person wearing a medical mask and holding a placard with the text written "Olla común Lo Hermida" - "Soup Kitchen Lo Hermida"- was added to the scene as a reference to the collective popular practice of sharing food in times of strike, in situation of need or emergency, such as COVID-19 in 2020.
In the painting "Demonstration on 4 September 1973 / No + AFP", the text "No + AFP" refers to the current demand for the abolition of the pension system (AFP). While in "Factory Taken Over, 1972", one of the texts from the placards has been changed to the text of a current demand of demonstrators in Chile "40 horas de trabajo, toda la vida de dignidad" - “40 hours of work, a life of dignity" - referring to the demand for the right to work a maximum of 40 hours per week.
In the case of “Free Transport for Students 1971”, the text on the bus is replacing the original text of the government campaign for an actual claim that to the right of a free and public education.
Furthermore from the series Memories of Chile - City and Mobilisation, the reference image for the painting “We Shall Overcome / Marichiweu, 1979” was taken from the footage of the documen- tary film “The Battle of Chile, Popular Power” 1979, of Patricio Guzmán, where a group of demonstrants carry a banner with the text “Área Social, Venceremos” - “Social Field - We Shall Overcome”.
The original image of these protest landscape was interwoven with a fictional mural paiting that can be seen placedon the big wall bellow the marching group.
In these made up mural painting the word “Marichiweu” is written in *Mapudungun, a Mapuche expression that stands for word “We shall overcome” together with the star of Arauco (Guñelve), symbol of the Mapuche iconography.
Finally, regarding the painting “Villa Portales, 1971 / I approve” there is represented a building complex proper of the socialist architecture style from the period. On the left side of the painting there is a made up banner with the the text “Apruebo” - “I approve” - referring to the recent constitutional process and its referendum for the approval or rejection for a new constitution for Chile.
*Mapudungun: mother tongue of the Mapuche people.
Images in this post
Memories of Chile - News
4 paintings, watercolour on paper, 2020.
Lo Hermida 1971 / 2020 | 13 x 19 cm,
Demonstration on September 4, 1973 / No + AFP | 13 x 19 cm,
Factory Taken Over, 1972 | 13 x 19 cm,
Free Transport for Students 1971 | 13 x 19 cm.
