The Ortiz Gurdian Foundation has stood up for politically and socially committed art in Nicaragua since it was founded in 1996. When the foundation first held the the Biennale of Nicaraguan Visual Arts (BAVNIC) in 1997 to promote local artists, the work was mostly painting. But in the past few years the BAVNIC has featured a large majority of photographers, videos, installations and performances and acquired many of the exhibited artwork to enrich the Foundation’s collection.
Photography has become the means of expression of performance, and video has borrowed from documentary and surrealism to address history. Ernesto Salmeron, Alejandro Flores, Luis Morales Alonso and Cristina Cuadra offer interesting examples of the deconstruction and reconstruction of the visual memory of Nicaragua through art. Each in their own way, the artists combined disciplines, influences and archives, positioning themselves in reaction to the populist iconography produced by the FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front) during the Revolution and since maintained by the party of President Daniel Ortega.
