Continuing our look at social justice in art, out of the thousands of modern and contemporary artists on display from 277 galleries at the nearly weeklong art festival at the 21st annual Art Basel Miami Beach another exhibit rose above to capture global attention. WMNF spoke to Tanya Vitale, who described an artist who died shortly after finishing her work.
South American history is haunted by the memories of US involvement with coup de’etat’s in 1973 in Chile and in 1976 in Argentina. The coup in Argentina inspired the late Lillian Marecsa to create subversive art about the injustice until her death in 1994. Vitale is with the the Rolf gallery and represents Maresca’s estate. Maresca can be seen in her photographic art alongside images of former President Bill Clinton and former Argentinian politicians.
“Carlos Menem was President of Argentina while Clinton was president, so we know that they made a lot of business together. Videla was the leader of the military coup in Argentina. We had a very long-lasting dictatorship in our country. Many people disappeared, so she’s making a huge statement against the corruption.”
In a most controversial move, Maresca lay fully nude before the images.
“She made a huge collage with all the faces of politicians and military people that for her, sold our country. So she’s naked because she has nothing to hide in front of the corruption at her back.”
And with the recent death of Henry Kissinger opening up conversations around Operation Condor and the historic US intervention in Latin American politics, Vitale says Maresca would have wanted to use this exhibit to raise awareness about the troubling shared history between the US and Argentina.
“Many people recognize easily Clinton, but not all people know about our history in terms of the dictatorship that characterized many countries in Latin America.”
Maresca passed away in 1994 of HIV. But to honor those who died from more violent means, before she died, she brought prints of her work to the riverbanks where the US-backed dictatorial government would allegedly make Argentinians disappear. Footage from that trip was shown on an old vintage television at the Art Basel exhibit in Miami. To see photos from the exhibition go to our website at WMNF.org/news.
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