Photographic images of indigenous communities in contemporary Chilean poetry

Abstract

This paper analyzes the literary proposals of Chilean poets such as Juan Luis Martínez, Juan Pablo Riveros, and Jaime Huenún, who privilege the intersection between word and image in a deconstructive and questioning approach. From the combination arises a hybrid text that destabilizes the concept of literature and literary canon as a cross-disciplinary approach that nourishes the final text. The photographic image of indigenous communities that is materially incorporated into the textual body of poetry collections comes from archives used for ethnographic and topographical purposes (such as those of the Austrian priest Martin Gusinde, Julius Popper, and the Franciscan company, among others) that serve as a catalyst for reflection on the materialization of ethnographic photography and the material and metaphysical "capture" (Flusser) of the indigenous peoples. The poetic works problematize the photographic act, the revealing character of the image, and its scenic implications in the exhibition of indigenous people in Argentina and Chile. In the works, photography plays an important role as it corroborates, denounces, and gives a face to historical subjects; points to the hunters and situates the historical context under which these acts of possession were carried out (Kay); they are images that violate the Spectator, therefore, making them confront the usurpation and death that weigh on the indigenous peoples, mainly from internal colonization. Photography is violent because it forces the eye to look, not because it shows violent images (Sontag). It is precisely this overwhelming violence of lives and repressive of traditions that is configured as the argumentative line of the poetic texts and the proposed reflection.