Emmanuel Rodriguez-Chaves

A Naïve Faith in Images: (Re) Construction of Two Files. VCA Artspace, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne, Australia. 2019

This show represents a partial view of the practical outcomes for my PhD research.

A predicament exists between reality and fiction that makes up the political imaginary. Two Central American situations from recent history have been interrogated: The Assassination of Viviana Gallardo (Costa Rica, 1981) and The File of 2132-97 Svetoslav S. This creative PhD addresses art’s ability to articulate political imaginaries and questions the temporalities, localities and identities caught up in these narratives. From the (re) construction of the life of these two characters, one real (Gallardo) and one imaginary (Svetoslav S.) my project proposes to demonstrate the multiple variations that constitute the construction of history and the particular narratives of their contexts. Throughout this research I have been creating a series of archives through the collection of documents (photos, files, newspaper clippings, videos and audio files). These, in turn, have served as the basis for the production of new paintings and objects (such as sculptures and videos). Additionally, these art objects are used as ‘accessories’ within spaces or installations – montages that aim to motivate multiple readings and create associations between historical concepts or facts, be they real or fictitious, without suggesting a single tempo-historical line.

Thanks to the people involved in the making of this project: Kachun Lay, Emilie Walsh, Eric Jong, Ellen YG Son, Nic Pearce, Elías Arce Toner, Zamara Zamara, Tenielle Thompson, Vivian Cooper-Smith, Moonis Shah, Sanja Pahoki, Bernhard Sachs. Alejandra Bonilla, Miguel Regueyra, Alejandra Ramírez León, Katie Paine, Tatiana Monge, Xiomara Zúñiga Salas, Adrián Flores Sancho, Zoé Sans Arcidet Lacourt, Pablo Hernández Hernández, my family and friends in Costa Rica.