DESCAMPADOS / WASTELANDS
The Gallery
23 August- 15 September 2024
Claudia Del Fierro
DESCAMPADOS / WASTELANDS is a multichannel video installation that explores the history of extractivism that affects a sector of the Arica and Parinacota
region, in the extreme north of Chile, an important commercial node with local memories and situated stories. The exhibition will display a platform of images,
testimonies, archives and landscapes in video essay format. The starting point of this project is the recent history of an area located on the eastern edge of the
urban area of Arica that has suffered a socio-environmental catastrophe, as a result of the deposit of 20,000 tons of toxic mining waste – lead and arsenic, among others. – which the Swedish mining company Boliden exported from Skellefthamn to Chile, between 1984 and 1989. In the early 1990s, the newly installed democratic government in Chile proceeded to build social housing projects in the sector. The new settlers of Los Industriales, Cerro Chuño and the residents of Sica Sica were unaware of the presence of this toxic waste. Today this sector, part lymarked by helplessness and violence, continues to suffer the consequences of pollution, despite the struggles and search for environmental justice by its inhabitants.
DESCAMPADOS / WASTELANDS is an ongoing artistic research project, initiated by the artist Claudia Del Fierro, in collaboration with the researcher Julia Willén (Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society REMESO, Linköping University), the archaeologist Magdalena García (post doctorate, University of Tarapacá) and the filmmaker Patricia Albornoz. The project also has the participation of social leaders from Arica, mostly women social fighters, in different processes of reflection and creation.
Claudia Del Fierro (Santiago, Chile, 1974) Visual artist. Bachelor of Arts, Master of Visual Arts from the University of Chile, Master of Fine Arts, Critical and Pedagogical Studies, from the Malmö Academy of Art, Lund University. She works in a variety of media, including video, photography, and installation. Her projects use observation, action, and performative practices to point out or reconstruct situations, through personal ethnographies. One of the interests that runs through her work is the relationship between a community and its environment. Del Fierro has obtained grants from Fondart (Chile) Konstnärsnämnden (Sweden) as well as numerous residencies in international spaces. She has participated in the IV Mercosur Biennial, VI Havana Biennial, XIII Media Arts Biennial, Chile as well as exhibitions in Europe and Latin America.
Saturday 24 August 13:00
Artist Talk:
Participants:
Claudia del Fierro (artist)
Luis Alarcon , curator
Galeria Metropolitana Chile
Julia Willén, researcher and historian
REMESO, Linköpings Universitet
Moderator: Erik Berggren, curator and assistant lecturer
REMESO, Linköpings Universitet