Diálogos Australes / Southern Dialogs

Join us on Thursday, March 4 at 5pm EST / 7pm GMT-3 for an opening panel discussion with exhibition curators Elda Harrington and Silvia Mangialardi, artists Maria Zorzon and Fabian España, moderated by Fabian Goncalves Borrega, curator of photography, AMA.

#AMAathome #AMAencasa #dialogosaustrales #dialogaustralis

Curated by Elda Harrington and Silvia Mangialardi, Diálogos Australes / Southern Dialogs features the work of eleven artists of Chile and Argentina who photograph what is their own: landscapes and their influence, artisanal work and trades in extinction, precarious living conditions, isolation, customs and their transmission, among other significant topics.
They now open this dialog to the world at large, which allows us to notice similarities and differences in their concerns, to take a glimpse into the relationship they maintain with art and the affinity they manifest between their reality and verisimilitude of photography, to share and compare experiences. Perhaps the approach and exchange of new ideas will facilitate a rapprochement between peoples.

List of artists:
Laura Antonelli (Argentina)
Fabián España Rivera (Chile) Claudio Frías Beyer (Chile) Cristhian Garabito Altamirano (Chile) Jonaz Gómez Sánchez (Chile) Alejandro Gulminelli (Argentina) Alejandra Lafón Vilugrón (Chile) Marcelo Mascareño Cortez (Chile) Tania Morgado Jofré (Chile) Gerardo Schachner (Argentina) María Zorzón (Argentina)

As a way of continuing our programming while the physical space is closed in accordance with COVID-19 regulations, the OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas has created a new virtual exhibition program titled #AMAatHome, whose aim is to present to our audiences with the content that would otherwise be available both within and beyond the walls of the physical museum.

To this end, #AMAatHome uses four social media platforms as museum walls: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. The curatorial process is challenged by the limitations of each platform, and enhanced by the opportunities that are not available in the physical museum. This sort of social media exhibition allows the AMA to reach not only the audience that may visit the museum in person to the degree that they are able to, but to also reach a worldwide audience that may never enter the physical museum, whether due to geographic location, disability, or any number of other factors.

Eleven artists—Chilean and Argentinian—photograph what is their own: landscapes and their influence, artisanal work and trades in extinction, precarious living conditions, isolation, customs and their transmission, among other significant topics.

Today, from the Art Museum of the Americas, in Washington, DC, they open this dialog to the world, which allows us to notice similarities and differences in their concerns, and to take a glimpse into the relationship they maintain with art and the affinity they manifest between their reality and verisimilitude of photography, to share and compare experiences. Perhaps the approach and exchange of new ideas will facilitate a rapprochement between peoples.

Alejandra Lafón portrays the beauty and vulnerability of the ecosystems of western North Patagonia, which, due to their extreme climate and lack of accessibility, still have a very low population density. It is about the tenacity to survive in spite of snow, great fires, deforestation and pollution.

For her part, Laura Antonelli focuses on beauty, but with lush spaces, almost impenetrable, delving into the mystery of the desire to live adapting to multiple adversities. Alejandro Gulminelli transmits the pristine nature of nature as “timeless,” in a call to care for the natural habitat.

Cristian Garabito exposes the trades that resist, by choice or by necessity. He shows men and women who repeat what they learned as children without working hours, with no retirement, nor a Christmas box in December. There are no marches or demonstrations there. There is a big question: how much will the price of their work go down?

Meanwhile, Tania Morgado investigates artisanal fishing, a trade inevitably linked to nature and which, due to political and social circumstances, is disappearing. Families move far from the sea, leaving only traces of what was once a natural way of subsistence in Aysén. They mark something that certainly deserves everyone's attention to alleviate some of the unwanted consequences of progress. In turn, Jonaz Gomez builds a record of daily life in the countryside, which transits between life and death, between blood and soil. It is a tribute to the contribution of the country people who have done so much to populate Patagonia.

Claudio Frías describes the distant and inhospitable Western Patagonia and the strength of its inhabitants, their customs and their festivals, while Marcelo Mascareño reveals the struggle to keep traditions afloat through the transfer of knowledge, from generation to generation, necessary for life and to maintain identity south of the Baker River.

Gerardo Schachner recounts the migration of men and animals, during the summer, in search of the high pastures, leaving the valleys where they were protected during the winter, inevitable for the inhabitants of western Neuquén in Argentine Patagonia.

Fabián España presents a unique and unknown vision of Chile as a reflection on how difficulties mark and strengthen us. His photographs of the Region of Aysén, in Chilean Patagonia, over several years mark their transition from childhood to adolescence and into adulthood.

Meanwhile, María Zorzon celebrates the life of the people on the Argentine plain, because it is in the peasant culture where she finds the foundations of the person who she is. Both Españ and Zorzon hint that we are very much of the culture we come from.

This exhibition is an invitation to explore the internal and external landscapes, along the Southern Cone, on both sides of the mountain range.

Elda Harrington and Silvia Mangialardi Luz Austral Foundation