Violeta Parra's never-before-seen papier-mache works arrive in Chile

Santiago de Chile, 16 Mar It was 1974 and Isabel Parra, the eldest daughter of the famous Chilean folklorist Violeta Parra (1917-1967), entered her dressing room after giving a concert in Geneva (Switzerland) when she came across a card with the following message: “Isabel, I have your mother's paintings. Daniel Vittet”. The singer-songwriter and current president of the Violeta Parra Foundation was clear from the beginning that these were the papier-mache works that her mother made between 1964 and 1965 during her stay in Europe and that marked her last years of life. The works were protected by the family and restored when their children returned to Chile after the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). From this Wednesday until April 27, ten of these creations will be exhibited for the first time to the public in the exhibition “Violeta Unpublished” at the Extension Center of the Catholic University, in Santiago. “This exhibition shows a new side of his work. It's a mysterious facet, these papier-mache are an extension of her and what she was thinking in her last years,” said her granddaughter and curator of the exhibition, Milena Rojas. “DOES NOT HAVE AN EXPIRATION DATE” Images of everyday life, characters from popular culture or colorful children dancing cueca (typical Chilean dance) are some of the themes captured in papier-mâché, but there are also violent episodes of the time, such as those in the play “Genocide”, where agents of the Carabineros corps point towards a tower of corpses. “In addition to everyday scenes of Chilean popular culture, the subject of denunciation and the harshest reality is also one of the important facets in Violeta Parra. In her work, she talks about all those problems that still exist today,” said her granddaughter, who recalled that many of her grandmother's songs were sung during the massive pro-equality protests in 2019. “Violeta and her work do not have an expiration date,” added Rojas, who attended the opening of the exhibition, where some of her most iconic songs such as “Gracias a la vida” were sung. To make papier-mâché, the artist used hot instead of cold water (which was traditional), raw flour and European magazines, while for painting she used oil and tempera. Along with these works that were once lost in Geneva, the assembly in the gallery also includes an unknown text by the folklorist, discovered in her notebook of popular poetry and sheltered during these years by her family. Parra, one of the greatest exponents of the New Chilean Song and who shot himself in the head with a shot in the head at the age of 49, “is a strong identity figure for Chile. The arts have the wonderful ability to reflect the intimacy of their author and to crystallize collective moments,” said Magdalena Amenábar, UC Vice President for Communications and Cultural Extension. The Parra family is one of the most important in Chile, home to several outstanding artists dedicated to the cultivation of music and literature, including Nicanor Parra (1914-2018), creator of antipoetry and winner of numerous literary awards, including the Chilean National Prize for Literature (1969) and the Cervantes Prize (2011).