Global Latin/o Americas Frederick Luis Aldama and Lourdes Torres, Series Editors “A detailed, incisive, intelligent, and well-argued exploration of visual politics in Chile that explores the way muralists, grafiteros, and other urban artists have inserted their aesthetics into the urban landscape. Not only is Latorre a savvy, patient sleuth but her dialogues with artists and audiences offer the reader precious historical context.” —ILAN STAVANS “A cutting-edge piece of art history, hybridized with cultural studies, and shaped by US people of color studies, attentive in a serious way to the historical and cultural context in which muralism and graffiti art arise and make sense in Chile.” —LAURA E. PERÉZ uisela Latorre’s Democracy on the Wall: Street Art of the Post-Dictatorship Era in Chile G documents and critically deconstructs the explosion of street art that emerged in Chile after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, providing the first broad analysis of the visual vocabulary of Chile’s murals and graffiti while addressing the historical, social, and political context for this public art in Chile post-1990. Exploring the resurgence and impact of the muralist brigades, women graffiti artists, the phenomenon of “open-sky museums,” and the transnational impact on the development of Chilean street art, Latorre argues that mural and graffiti artists are enacting a “visual democracy,” a form of artistic praxis that seeks to create alternative images to those produced by institutions of power. Keenly aware of Latin America’s colonial legacy and Latorre deeply flawed democratic processes, and distrustful of hegemonic discourses promoted by government and corporate media, the artists in Democracy on the Wall utilize graffiti and muralism as an alternative means of public communication, one that does not serve capitalist or nationalist interests. Latorre posits that through these urban interventions that combine creativity with social action, Chilean street artists formulate visions of what a true democracy looks like. GUISELA LATORRE is Associate Professor at The Ohio State University and the author of Walls of Empowerment: Chicana/o Indigenist Murals of California. Cover image: Roberto Hernández Cover design: Christian Fuenfhausen ISBN13 978-0-8142-5537-7 street art of the post-dictatorship era in chile The Ohio State University Press COLUMBUS | ohiostatepress.org ,!7IA8B4-cffdhh!:t;K;k;K;k Guisela Latorre DEMOCRACY ON THE WALL GLOBAL LATIN/O AMERICAS FREDERICK LUIS ALDAMA AND LOURDES TORRES, SERIES EDITORS DEMOCRACY ON THE WALL STREET ART OF THE POST-DICTATORSHIP ERA IN CHILE GUISELA LATORRE THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS COLUMBUS Copyright © 2019 by The Ohio State University. This edition licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License. This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries—and the generous support of The Ohio State University Libraries. Learn more at the TOME website, which can be found at the following web address: openmonographs.org. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Latorre, Guisela, 1970– author. Title: Democracy on the wall : street art of the post-dictatorship era in Chile / Guisela Latorre. Other titles: Global Latin/o Americas. Description: Columbus : The Ohio State University Press, [2019] | Series: Global Latin/o Americas | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019002298 | ISBN 9780814214022 (cloth ; alk. paper) | ISBN 0814214029 (cloth ; alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Street art—Social aspects—Chile. | Graffiti—Social aspects—Chile. | Street art—Political aspects—Chile. | Graffiti—Political aspects—Chile. | Mural painting and decoration, Chilean—20th century. | Mural painting and decoration, Chilean—21st century. Classification: LCC GT3913.34.A2 L38 2019 | DDC 751.7/3—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019002298 Cover design by Christian Fuenfhausen Text design by Juliet Williams Type set in Adobe Minion Pro FOR JUDITH, THE FIERCE, THE LOVING, THE MAGNÍFICA CONTENTS List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii INTRODUCTION Street Art, Visual Democracy, and the Chilean City 1 CHAPTER 1 The Return from Clandestine Anonymity: Muralist Brigades, Revamped and Renewed 28 CHAPTER 2 Open-Sky Museums and the Decolonization of Urban Space 64 CHAPTER 3 Tagging the Chilean City: Graffiti as Individualized and Collective Praxis 101 CHAPTER 4 Public Interventions and Gender Disruptions: Graffiteras’ Urban Transformations 132 CONCLUSION Transnational Incursions in Chilean Street Art: Globalizing the Local and Localizing the Global 171 Bibliography 215 Index 225 ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 0.1 “Art is on the streets” (2015), entrance of the Museum of Visual Arts 2 FIGURE 0.2 David Alfaro Siqueiros, Death to the Invader (1941–42), mural 15 FIGURE 1.1 Mono González working on a mural as a trazador 37 FIGURE 1.2 Children working on a mural as rellenadores 37 FIGURE 1.3 Colectivo Brigada Ramona Parra, Untitled (2012), mural 41 FIGURE 1.4 Brigada Ramona Parra, Untitled (2017), mural 47 FIGURE 1.5 Brigada Ramona Parra painting with children (2017) 48 FIGURE 1.6 Brigada Ramona Parra, lunch with local community (2017) 50 FIGURE 1.7 Brigada Ramona Parra with Mapuche machi (2017) 51 FIGURE 1.8 Brigada Ramona Parra, planting araucaria tree (2017) 52 FIGURE 1.9 Brigada Chacón, Ley de Pesca . Otro regalo pa’ los empresarios (2012), papelógrafo 60 FIGURE 1.10 Ricardo Rodríguez working on ¿Hasta cuándo la prensa y fiscalía protegen a Piñera? (2017), papelógrafo 62 ix x • ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 2.1 Jorge Peña y Lillo, Basti, Gesak, Hozeh, Pobre Pablo, and Pato Albornoz, Los Prisioneros (2010), mural 74 FIGURE 2.2 12 Brillos Crew, Homenaje a los trabajadores que luchan (2010), mural 77 FIGURE 2.2A 12 Brillos Crew, Homenaje a los trabajadores que luchan, detail (2010), mural 79 FIGURE 2.2B 12 Brillos Crew, Homenaje a los trabajadores que luchan, detail (2010), mural 79 FIGURE 2.3 Aislap, Meli Wuayra (2010), mural 81 FIGURE 2.4 Mono González and Julien “Seth” Malland, Integración (2011), mural 87 FIGURE 2.5 Alfredo Guillermo Fernández, Seba, El Año, Pati, Tikai, and Plek, La Pincoya (2014), mural 93 FIGURE 2.6 Con Nuestras Manos, En Memoria a Carlos Fariña (2013), mural 94 FIGURE 2.7 Colectivo Amancay, Nestha, Seba, Plek, DP, Amaranta, Jae, Pecko, Cagde, Defos, Injusticia, Jano, Degra, Vidaingravita, Causa, Sam, Rouse, Fabi, Richy, Sofrenia, Naturaleza, Boa, Yono, and PP, Intervencionismo Yanki en Latinoamerica (2012), mural 97 FIGURE 3.1 Anti-Graffiti Banner, the Municipality of Santiago 104 FIGURE 3.2 Anti-Graffiti and Vandalism Banner, the Municipality of Santiago 105 FIGURE 3.3 12 Brillos Crew, Untitled (2011), graffiti mural 114 FIGURE 3.4 Fisek (2015), graffiti throwup in process 121 FIGURE 3.5 Fisek (2015), graffiti throwup in process 121 FIGURE 3.6 Fisek (2015), graffiti throwup in process 122 FIGURE 3.7 Fisek (2015), finished graffiti throwup 123 FIGURE 3.8 Las Crazis and Nocturnas (Tikka and Pan), Untitled (2010), graffiti mural 127 FIGURE 3.8A Las Crazis and Nocturnas (Tikka and Pan), Untitled, detail (2010), graffiti mural 129 FIGURE 4.1 Dana, Untitled (n.d.), graffiti 150 FIGURE 4.2 Dana, Untitled, detail (2009), graffiti 152 Illustrations • xi FIGURE 4.3 Dana, Untitled, street view (2009), graffiti 153 FIGURE 4.4 Alterna, Niña (c. 2010), graffiti mural 155 FIGURE 4.5 Alterna, Devuélvenos la Imaginación (2011), graffiti mural 156 FIGURE 4.6 Alterna, Adopta un Gato (2010), graffiti mural 158 FIGURE 4.7 Abusa Crew, Espíritu de Mujer (2014), graffiti mural 159 FIGURE 4.8 Anis, Puta 2 (c. 2010), graffiti mural 162 FIGURE 4.9 Gigi (Turronas Crew), Untitled (2011), graffiti mural 164 FIGURE 4.10 Gigi (Turronas Crew), Luisa Rayando a Zade (2011), graffiti mural 166 FIGURE 4.11 Gigi (Turronas Crew), Luisa Playera (2013), graffiti mural 167 FIGURE 4.12 Gigi (Turronas Crew), Luisa del Bosque (2012), graffiti mural 168 FIGURE 5.1 Inti, Untitled (“Ekeko”) (2012), graffiti mural 177 FIGURE 5.2 Inti, Untitled (“Ekeka”) (2012), graffiti mural 177 FIGURE 5.3 Inti, Don Quijote de la MaRcha (2014), graffiti mural 186 FIGURE 5.4 Roa, Horse (2011), graffiti mural 191 FIGURE 5.5 Mono González, Feminist Print Workshop 196 FIGURE 5.6 Ohio State University student, Feminist Print Workshop 197 FIGURE 5.7 Jenn Eidemiller, Feminist Print Workshop 198 FIGURE 5.8 Jessica Lieberman, Feminist Print Workshop 199 FIGURE 5.9 Mono González, Maria DiFranco, and Katerina Harris working on the Transit Arts mural 201 FIGURE 5.10 Maria DiFranco, Federico Cuatlacuatl, Katerina Harris, and others working on the Transit Arts mural 202 FIGURE 5.11 Mono González and Katerina Harris holding up completed Transit Arts mural 203 FIGURE 5.12 Mono González and others, Transit Arts mural (2015), acrylic on canvas 204 FIGURE 5.13 Gigi (Marjorie Peñailillo), Formación (2016), digital sketch 208 FIGURE 5.14 Tess Pugsley and Guisela Latorre, outlines for Formación (2016) 210 xii • ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 5.15 Lynaya Elliott, Jackie Stotlar, and Tess Pugsley working on Formación (2016) 211 FIGURE 5.16 Gigi (Marjorie Peñailillo), Lynaya Elliott, Guisela Latorre, Tess Pugsley, and Jackie Stotlar, Formación (2016), graffiti mural 212 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THE WORD acknowledgment can be defined as an expression of gratitude and appreciation. For me, it is also a public recognition of the interconnectedness and interdependence between people, an acknowledgment that our achieve- ments are never solely our own and that we are privileged and blessed when we have a strong system of support. This book was the result of hard work and dedication on my part, to be sure, but the encouragement and loving guidance of family, friends, artists, and colleagues injected the necessary energy into everything I did. I would like to recognize here the individuals and organiza- tions that made Democracy on the Wall a possibility. Thus, I acknowledge that the community of support that I was fortunate enough to have was a privilege that not all scholars and researchers enjoy.