Exhibition opening on 15 september.
Destierro is an exhibition of artworks by Cecilia Zabaleta that “invites to travel through an existential and geographical journey of a migrant memory born of forced displacement and subsequent republican exile in 1939”. Under the curatorship of Roberto Fuertes, Zabaleta proposes an itinerary through the experiences of her vital itinerary, “expressively using a suggestive language based on creations in oil paint and mixed technique with documentary fragments, interlined with epigraphs by the author herself. Proposal that is reflected in compositions of fractured landscapes, allegory of cracked objects, and cartographic gestures”
Latin America became one of the main host destinations, and it is possible to recognize two concepts that describe particularities of this displacement: Transtierro and Circular Exile. The first, referring to those exiles who will not return to live in their homeland and will adopt the new land. And the second, associated with double exile, in the first instance linked to the persecution by Franco and then to the military dictatorships, mainly in South America in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Chilean visual artist Cecilia Zabaleta, granddaughter of a refugee who arrived in Chile on the Winnipeg ship, speaks to us through her works about these memories of exile to reveal aspects related to biographical fractures, human fragility, the marks of uprooting, deconstruction and construction of meanings, survival as a form of resistance and the possibility of rebuilding new vital projects where absence and presence coexist. Using for this purpose the testimonies of other exiles. And it does so at a particularly significant moment, such as the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the military coup that began the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, marked by political persecution, death and exile.
The artist proposes us to know and verify the experiences of this vital itinerary, expressively using a suggestive language based on creations in oil paint and mixed technique with documentary fragments, interlined with epigraphs by the author herself. Proposal that is reflected in compositions of fractured landscapes, allegory of cracked objects, and cartographic gestures. Altogether with the use of testimonies from exiles, during the creative process, allows us to put into dialogue: art and fragment of a memory under construction that transits from personal to collective experiences.
In turn, the exhibition invites us to reflect and challenges us to become aware of the impact of exile on the people who are forced to live it, and about the current humanitarian problems associated with migration and forced displacement in contemporary society.
Roberto Fuertes, Curator
About the artistCecilia Zabaleta articulates the search for different artistic languages throughout testimonies and memory archive material. Memory and exile have been the thematic axes of her latest works, approached from vital breaks, fragility and the traces of uprooting. This has resulted in exhibition projects such as Exile, One-Way Ticket, Migrant Memory, and Winnipeg Memory exhibited in Santiago de Chile and Spain (Barcelona, Madrid and Gernika).
"The construction of languages in art can give visibility and generate very intimate connections around themes that are socially important, such as those related to memory, which must be taken to different exhibition levels to invite reflection and questioning about problems that have not been resolved, as well as promoting a culture of peace and defense of human rights."
COMPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES- Opening of the exhibition
- September 15, 2023
- Visit mediated with artist and curator
- Workshop “Passages of memory”
- September 23 at 12 pm | Previous registration is required on the website
