María Verónica San Martin
Indignity & Resistance in the Foothills of the Andes. A Case Study of Villa Grimaldi, Chile, 2015
One of fifty variant copies. Signed by artist.
1945
Quarto. (7)ff + 16-panel central accordion + (7)ff. San Martin's book is as much research project as artist's statement, addressing with visual and textual force one of the most notorious...
Quarto. (7)ff + 16-panel central accordion + (7)ff. San Martin's book is as much research project as artist's statement, addressing with visual and textual force one of the most notorious torture centers operating during the dictatorship in Chile. The first section of leaves provides exemplary accounts of Villa Grimaldi and the names of the victims, the survivors, and the military and paramilitary boards and units responsible for kidnappings and torture protocols. The concluding leaves provide testimonies in both Spanish and English. From the center, the accordion unfurls to 13 1/2 feet. Because the accordion has been illustrated on both sides, it conveys the impression of exile - we are on this side, faced with monoprinted and screenprinted images of abject prisoners under the lash of their torturers, while on the other side sprawl the free and open Andes Mountains. The format of the book itself emphasizes the impression; it can be arranged into a circle, so that one area is fully closed off from the other. A materially and archivally monumental work on the traumatic geography of fascism. Bound long-stich into printed wrappers and housed in printed slipcase. Fine.