| Following the Trail of the Urban Miracle Seekers These paintings are based on a popular religious practice which venerates the animitas or souls of those who have died a violent and unjust death in the streets of Chilean cities. According to believers, their power to produce miracles is derived from the unjust nature of their deaths. It is this injustice that impedes them from resting in the afterlife. Thus they are forced to remain forever at the sites of their deaths, helping the living in their plights.
Following the Trails of Urban Miracle Seekers is an interdisciplinary project combining both anthropological and visual art in order to depict and understand the extraordinary aspects of the everyday in people's lives. It is based on ethnographic and historical research conducted over three years in Santiago, Chile. As ethnographer and visual artist I am both observer and interpreter. With this dual role, I attempt to depict those textures lost in the ethnographic text as well as imbue the artistic work with ethnographic reality. ©2005, 2006, 2007 Lydia Nakashima Degarrod All rights reserved. |
