Opening: Thursday September 7th Conceived as a dialogue across geographies and temporalities, the exhibition Mud Perhaps seeks to delve into the relationship between Chileans and Argentineans in one of the most conflictive regions and one that has yielded the greatest number of stories of points of contact and confrontations: Patagonia. On the fortieth anniversary of the return to democracy in Argentina and the fiftieth of the coup d'état in Chile, the exhibition brings together the works of two artists: Nilda Rosemberg from Argentina and Javier Canales from Chile, who address the themes of borders and memory through joint works articulated with individual pieces. Rosemberg's starting point is her own body, the bearer of an individual (social) life story expressed through embroidery and performance. In this exhibition, messages and feelings are connected to Canales' engagement with nature and history, and with the energy and materials of the place where he lives. This is the reason why mud becomes his raw material. Ceramics, textiles and moving bodies reflect current conflicts and a commitment to the memories of the place and the energy of those who are no longer here.The meeting proposes a reflection on the relationship between Argentineans and Chileans, often affected by governmental decisions that did not represent the interests of the majority of the population, much less of those living in Patagonia, with families on both sides of the border. This project will include a second chapter in the near future addressing issues of memory through documents from the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago de Chile and the Documentation Center in Rio Gallegos, which contain information on significant events related to dictatorship/democracy issues, such as the Puntarenazo in Chile, the Siluetazo in Argentina and the Beagle Conflict. Fernando Farina
Image: Javier Canales, La memoria de las piedras, 2023
