From Rio de la Plata to the Extreme West: Feminist Historiographies of Art and Artistic Activism in Argentina and Chile
We are coninuing to present texts published in FEMINIST ART HISTORIOGRAPHIES IN EASTERN EUROPE AND LATIN AMERICA issue of “Ikonotheka” 33 (2024).
Authors: Andrea Giunta
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to employ a comparative approach that allows us to understand the approaches towards art historiography articulated in two countries of South America. Although women artists had organised themselves early on in societies, in women’s exhibitions, and were one of the driving forces in art, when we look at how the art canon has been configured in these countries, we must move to the end of 20th century and the beginning of 21st to find consistent work that dissociates itself from dominant patriarchal perspectives. In this article, I propose to approach this process comparatively, looking at two periods: first, the eighties-nineties and the introduction of gender studies; and second, the exhibitions, research and books produced, above all, since 2000. In both periods, I shall also consider the artistic activism that generated historiography. In the two cases studied, Argentina and Chile, the tension between democracy and dictatorship will also be considered as a relevant factor that has interrupted a process that had begun in the 1970s and would be resumed with the return of democracy.
