MATRIX 251: Paz Errázuriz

Chilean photographer Paz Errázuriz, who has been living and working in Santiago since the 1960s, is known for her honest portrayal of people living on the fringes of society. This presentation, her first solo museum exhibition in the U.S., showcases selections from two bodies of work made during the brutal military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, which lasted from 1973 to 1990.

From 1982 to 1987, Errázuriz documented the daily lives of a dozen male transvestites who worked in various brothels in the cities of Santiago and Talca. Enshrouded in silence and having suffered in a secret, violent world, the men welcomed Errázuriz's camera, and wanted their stories to be told. The resulting series "La manzana de Adán" (1982–87) was originally exhibited just before the Pinochet regime toppled in 1990, and shortly thereafter an accompanying book was published in collaboration with journalist Claudia Donoso. In Boxeadores (1987), Errázuriz turns her camera to a different group of men: boxers who fought in neighborhood gymnasiums. Her moving portraits of young men, all shot isolated against a wall, reveal a masculinity defined by sport, but also rooted in a particular community and social space.

MATRIX 251 and 252 are organized by by Apsara DiQuinzio, curator of modern and contemporary art and Phyllis C. Wattis MATRIX Curator. The MATRIX Program is made possible by a generous endowment gift from Phyllis C. Wattis and the continued support of the BAM/PFA Trustees. Additional funding is provided by The Jay DeFeo Trust.

MATRIX 251: Paz Errázuriz

artist/s:
Paz Errazuriz

curator:
Phyllis C. Wattis