“Depth of Field: Chilean Photographic Practices under Dictatorship”

As one of the most pervasive and visible representational practices, photography played a crucial role during the military dictatorship in Chile (1973-1990). Photography served as visual proof in judicial cases and printed media (newspapers and magazines both for and against the military regime); revealing photography’s most performative aspect, photo IDs of the desaparecidos and pictures taken by their relatives from family albums were duplicated on copier machines or re-photographed, blown-up and disseminated in banners, posters, pamphlets, integrated into the photographic archive, and published in magazines; photographic materials taken from various sources were cut, printed, stained or sewn together with other documents and integrated into the artistic practices;
many photographers abandoned more ‘creative’ endeavors to turn their lens onto the war going on in the streets. This presentation will consider the medium of photography and its impact as it entered into dialogue with different fields (ranging from forensics to art to news coverage), visual artistic modes, art actions, human rights institutions’ archives, and political rallies throughout this crucial period.

Professor Ángeles Donoso Macaya, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

Ángeles Donoso Macaya is assistant professor of Spanish in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY. Her research interests include Latin/o American photography history and theory, contemporary literature from the Southern Cone and Mexico, documentary film and theory, and performance studies.