March, 19 – Images freighted with all the orphanhood in the world: Contemporary Latin American Artists on Sexual and Gendered Violence

In the last decades, gender-based and sexual violence have gained notoriety within civil society and the international community. In Latin America, an intense activism and struggle for truth and justice has caused interest in women’s human rights violations from various disciplines, including the arts. As I will argue, the works of Latin American women artists who deal with these issues in their artistic practices give us the opportunity to address gendered and sexual violence as a form of political violence. I will analyze contemporary artworks by Teresa Margolles (MX), Ambra Polidori (MX), Daniela Ortiz (PE/SP) and Adriana Varejao (BR).

Dr. Elena Rosauro, Centre for Latin American Studies, University of Zurich