The Fondation Cartier retraces half a century of Latin American political, geographical and social history through the work of seventy-two little-known South American artists.
Through color and black-and-white photographs, slides, collages, photocopies, documents and multimedia installations, America Latina explores political events, violence, power relations and excess. Six curators worked on this retrospective, dividing it into four themes.
The first part, “Territories,” lays the foundation for the exhibition. The visitor is invited to get acquainted with the continent through maps and travel books, to study the borders that separate South Americans. These borders are an important source of inspiration for the artists, as seen in Regina Silveira’s Latin American Puzzle, a reflection on Latin-American identity. This is followed by the Mexican artist Carlos Ginzburg’s photographic study of tourism, or the work of Claudia Andujar, who photographed Yanomami Indians in the Amazon for a series entitled Marcados Para. This introduction serves as an ode to the region’s sometimes forgotten cultural mix of indigenous and pre-Hispanic heritages, African legacy and Western influences.
The second theme, “Cities,” shows a place in transformation, a place to document, a place to speak. The contrasting urban landscapes, posters, graffiti and billboards exemplify the architectural and demographic evolution of cities, inequality, violence and poverty. Rosario López focuses on the recent developments in downtown Bogota, while Paolo Gasparini photographs shops signs and street vendors in Caracas, Lima, Montevideo and Bogota, a symptom of growing consumerism.
In the basement of the Fondation Cartier two themes—”Inform – Report” and “Memory and Identity”—complement each other. Since the 1960s, Latin America has experiences decades of violence and revolution. Today, although the political climate has calmed down, it remains one of the most dangerous regions of the world, and the anger of its people can be seen in these works. It is present metaphorically in the Cuban artist Jose A. Figueroa’s photographs of a psychiatric hospital in Havana, where he juxtaposes a portrait of a man with the slogan “Patient of the Month,” in reference to the American practice of recognizing an “Employee of the Month.” We can see the anger in Brazilian photographer Rosângela Rennó’s images of inmate tattoos. In the work of Colombian artist Johanna Calle and Mexican artist Teresa Margolles, it emerges through excerpts from letters and archives, bearing witness to the political and social tragedies both of their countries have known.
America Latina, 1960-2013
Until April 6th, 2013
A la Fondation Cartier
261 Boulevard Raspail
75014 Paris
France
+33 1 42 18 56 50
http://fondation.cartier.com
