Interview Series
Despabila’s Interview Series engages writers and visual artists from across the Americas in a series of recorded conversations about the role of art and writing in struggles for social justice. Our first interview series focuses on Chile, and features the work of graphic designers, printmakers, writers, and musicians whose work has responded to political events in Chile, from the Pinochet dictatorship to the more recent estallido social.
Antonio Morales (Jul. 2022)
Antonio Morales: destacado músico chileno, ex integrante de afamados conjuntos como Barroco Andino e Illapu.
Antonio es vientista, intérprete de aerófonos andinos, pero principalmente solista en quena, y, como quenista, referente de este instrumento. Además, es luthier -fabricante- de instrumentos aerofonos andinos como quenas, quenachos, palahuitos, zampoñas y moceños.
Antonio es oriundo de Santiago de Chile, tiene 56 años y desde muy joven ha estado ligado a la música. A lo largo de su carrera ha colaborado con diversos músicos de su país y ha fabricado instrumentos para los más renombrados conjuntos chilenos.
Chile Woke (May 2021)
Chile Woke is a series of art exhibits based in Seattle, WA, USA, developed during the pandemic (2020) and with Chile and Washington state collaborators. Born in solidarity with the Chilean social movement and created by Chilean curator Marce Soto Ramirez, Chile Woke's Exhibit aims to promote the work of artists and photographers that created pieces related to the ongoing social and political crisis in Chile since October 18th, 2019. Chile Woke then aims to raise awareness about police and state violence, denouncing human rights violations, and creating spaces for communities to talk and heal. Bringing together graphic art pieces and street photography, Soto's work serves as an open window for Latinx artists on the Pacific Northwest and a space where social justice voices can grow stronger.
Pía Barros (Dec. 2020)
Pía Barros is a Chilean writer, educator, and editor. Her literary production centers primarily on short stories and microfiction, although she has also written novels and participated actively in collaborative publications. She received the 2011 Altazor Prize—the highest literary award in Chile—for her short story collection El lugar del otro/ The Place of the Other. Additional collections include, among others, Miedos transitiorios/Transitory Fears, A horcajadas/Astride, Ropa usada/Second-hand Clothes, and La Grandmother y otros/ Grandmother and Others. Since 1976, she has facilitated the feminist literary workshop Ergo Sum, producing annual libros-objectos/book-object collections of stories from the workshops, illustrated by Chilean graphic artists. In her role as director of Ediciones Asterión, she envisioned and edited the collaborative project ¡Basta! + de 100 mujeres contra la violencia de género/Enough! 100+ Women Against Gender Violence, an anthology of microfiction whose methodology has been taken up across the Americas, with additional anthologies produced in Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Mexico, and the US, among others. Working at the intersections of cultural production and social justice, Barros has a longstanding commitment to the feminist and progressive activism in Chile, accompanying closely movements for change from the Pinochet years through the 2019 uprising and beyond.
Ser y Gráfica (Nov. 2020)
Ser y Grafica is a feminist art collective that started in 2016 in Santiago, Chile. Definied by the founders as a “colectiva artistica de mujeres libertarias” -art collective of libertarian women-, this collective is form by Karine Hurtado; teacher and graphic artist and Drina Herrera; docent and cience researcher. Their cathartic work is a mixture of art therapy and poster development thru silk printing. Ser y Grafica’s work takes the streets, making political statements empowering communities and their voices with art as a medium. Their work has been featured in Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Spain, France, and United States.
Peña Quisiera Dar Mi Voz (2023)
Peña Quisera Dar Mi Voz took place at Evergreen State College's House of Welcome, on March 16, 2023; from 18:00 to 21:00.
Peña Despabila (2020)
The first Peña Despabila took place at Casa Latina, on January 11, 2020; from 18:00 to 22:00. It counted with the presence of over 15 local musicians, poets and speakers; who presented for an estimated audience of 50 attendees. (Sacado del reporte de la peña.)
