Koen Wessing and Alfredo Jaar at Nederlands Fotomuseum
The Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam presents a dual exhibition pairing Dutch humanitarian photographer Koen Wessing (1942-2011) with Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar (b. 1956). Wessing's series 'Chili, September 1973' documents the violence following Pinochet's coup, deliberately leaving photographs uncaptioned to intensify their impact. Jaar's video installation 'Shadows' responds to one of Wessing's 1978 Nicaragua images of two women mourning their father, killed by the National Guard. The work manipulates the original photo into a sequence where background and body details fade, leaving only black-and-white emotion. Both artists avoid explanatory text, emphasizing universal grief. The exhibition runs until May 12, 2019.
Key facts
- Koen Wessing was born in Amsterdam in 1942 and died in 2011.
- Wessing traveled to Chile immediately after Allende's fall.
- His series 'Chili, September 1973' shows violence by Pinochet's forces.
- Wessing deliberately omitted captions from his photographs.
- Alfredo Jaar was born in Santiago, Chile in 1956.
- Jaar's installation 'Shadows' is inspired by Wessing's 1978 Nicaragua photo.
- The photo shows two women grieving their father killed by the National Guard.
- The exhibition is at Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam until May 12, 2019.
Entities
Artists
- Koen Wessing
- Alfredo Jaar
Institutions
- Nederlands Fotomuseum
Locations
- Rotterdam
- Netherlands
- Chile
- Santiago
- Nicaragua
- Estelí
- Managua