El arte está en la calle. Guisela Latorre’s Democracy on the Wall expertly explores the world of street art, muralists, and graffiterx across various urban areas throughout Chile after the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorial rule as president in 1990. While Pinochet no longer holds office, the impacts of his systemic repression and terror still plague Chile.
Latorre argues that Chileans experience the most unequal society in the developed world, using research that includes oral history interviews, on-site investigations, and archival sources. She engages directly with contemporary Chilean street artists for conversations about the larger hopeful movement of “democracy to come” and the unwritten history of street art in Chile.
Image courtesy of the Ohio State University Press.
During the sixteen years of Pinochet’s tyrannical rule, the street art scene was destroyed, white-washed, censored and criminalized. Fortunately, the Chilean street art movement had secured its foundation during the previous presidency. During Salvador Allende’s presidency, street artists, muralist brigades, and graffiterx were intervening in public spaces with visual politics, taking up space, providing imagery for an egalitarian movement toward a better future for all. After Pinochet’s regime “fell,” artists began to reclaim the public sphere.
As a Chilean immigrant now living in the United States, with the experience of living under Pinochet herself, Latorre provides readers with a gift. It is with her experience and understanding of Chilean culture, in tandem with her feminist framework, that this professor at Ohio State University opens our eyes to an invaluable perspective on Chilean street art history.
With her familiarity with the protest movements that led to Chile’s strong street art scene, Latorre is able to explore her case studies thematically, with a fluidity that evokes that of the street art medium itself. Throughout the book, the reader can explore the resurgence of collective muralist brigades, such as the Brigada Ramona Parra (BRP) and the Brigada Chacón (BC), museos a cielo abierto (MCAs) or “open-sky museums,” “Wildstyle” graffiti, and the movement and empowerment of graffiteras.
Democracy on the Wall: Street Art of the Post-Dictatorship Era in Chile is a remarkable introduction to the strength and endurance of Chilean street art culture after a period of great social injustice. Chilean street artists' ability to bring progressive, creative, striking, and inspiring visuals into the public sphere, during and after the Pinochet era, should serve to remind readers of the power of the humanities emboldened by human spirit.
There is so much to be gained by reading Latorre’s work on Chilean street art. The Black Lives Matter movement of the United States, and the world, continues to battle systemic racist oppression and police brutality. On the streets, people are demanding long-due freedom and justice for all. While mobilizing for a more egalitarian global society, it’s likely that we will begin to see even more “democracy on the wall.” I welcome it, wholeheartedly.
Chelsea Villareal is a Mexican American Children’s Media Strategist from Portland, Oregon – Hey Cascadians! She holds a BUPA in Political Science & Media Studies from Portland State University, attended the NYU Summer Publishing Institute and is currently enrolled in her Masters at Columbia University. She works on the Brand Marketing team at Penguin Young Readers and holds down the role of Program Manager at We Need Diverse Books. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and two crazy, lazy feline beasts.
