ANDRÉS DURÁN
LEONORA VICUÑA
JONATHAN HERNANDEZ
ANNA BELLA GEIGER
MARCELO BRODSKY
NICOLÁS FRANCO
ROSÂNGELA RENNÓ
BEYOND THE DOCUMENTARY IN LATIN AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Nathalie Goffard Professor & Art Historian
Art comes with its own clichés and fictions and Latin American art has often been reduced to its politics. One could agree with the commonly held assertion that ‘all art is political’, not just for the messages it transmits, or for the themes it discusses, but because it is a direct reflection on society and its time. The wide range of practices in Latin American photography has mainly been reduced to a particular type of photojournalism that was predominant during times of political instability and social inequality. Latin American photographers, seeking to give visibility to their peripheral status and write their own story within the historical context in which they lived, relied on a political aesthetic in order to become part of an international discourse. This perpetuated the myth that the realities these authors recorded should be defined as ‘documentary’.
In attempting to understand what we mean by Latin American photography, we should
question whether the ‘Latin American’ label constitutes an identity per se or if it stands as a symbolic reference. In addressing this debate, intellectuals from the region agree that the essence of what is ‘Latin American’ stems from a culture of hybridization, where historical, geographic, economic, social and political influences have combined to generate new cultural forms. These multiple influences are paradigmatic concerns for Latin American societies and determinant in the current local and global dialogues and
tensions.
The works selected for this exhibition reference memory, history and identity and attest to these superimposed layers of reality – formal or symbolic. It is perhaps no longer a question of defining and making Latin America visible to the other, but rather, to listen to the artists’ own reflection on their identity through photographic works that threaten and blur the boundaries between aesthetics, politics and fiction.
LOOKING AT LATIN AMERICA BEYOND THE POLARITY OF THE CENTRE AND THE PERIPHERY
Chantal Fabres, Exhibition Curator
Geographically, its map traces a region constituted by more than twenty countries extending from Mexico to the confines of Tierra del Fuego, each with its histories, cultures, ethnicities and languages. This diversity manifests itself not only between individual countries, but also within each country itself and although some share a history marked by political and social upheaval, it is misleading to speak of a 'Latin American' entity.
To understand the extraordinary development in the Latin American art scene over the last three decades we must take into consideration the complexities of a multidimensional society shaped by a mosaic of individual histories. We cannot over-simplify and homogenise another reality 1 and in this context, curator and art critic Gerardo Mosquera reflects that, Latin American art has ceased to be 'of', and has instead become art 'from' Latin America. "From, and not so much of, in or here, is the keyword today in the re-articulation of the polaritie." 2
The artists represented in Voces and whose creative expression explores the use of the photographic image, come from Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Although photography figures prominently in their artistic practice, few rely solely on the
medium's specificity as a self-evident reproduction of the 'real'. Instead, they take their own culture and heritage as primary sources of inspiration and combine photography with other techniques such as collage, silk-printing, painting, and images that use cultural ephemera and archival documents.
In an attempt to address the wealth of individual expression in Latin American photography, the philosophy that has guided this exhibition has been to listen to the voices of the participating artists. They challenge the popular acceptance of what has been codified as 'photography/ic' and through sophisticated compositions they propose a search for new meanings. Informed by their cultural identity they are not defined by it. Their voices should be listened to without the arbitrariness of our Western clichés and we should concentrate on a narrative from another place.
1 Guy Brett, Transcontinental. An Investigation of Reality. Nine Latin American Artists. (Verso: London, New York, 1990), 5.
2 Gerardo Mosquera, “Walking with the Devil,” in 100 Latin American Artists, ed. Rosa Olivares (Exit Publicaciones: Spain, May 2007), 20.
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