Tamara Toledo & Rodrigo Barreda

Tamara Toledo. Is a Toronto-based visual artist and independent curator. She is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design and holds an MFA from York University. She is co-founder and Visual Arts Director of the Salvador Allende Arts Festival for Peace. Toledo is currently a recipient of the Culturally Diverse Curators grant of the Canada Council for the Arts and is in residence at A Space Gallery. Her critical writing has been published in Fuse Magazine, ARM Journal and C Magazine. Tamara Toledo is the Public Programs Manager at Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art and Executive Director of LACAP (Latin American Canadian Art Projects). She has organized the Latin American Speakers Series, and has invited Gerardo Mosquera to Canada for a series of tutorials and lectures at various educational institutions.

Rodrigo Barreda. Is a Chilean-Canadian Graphic artist, artistic director and curator. He is co-founder and Artistic Director of the Salvador Allende Arts Festival for Peace.  His work is concerned with the study of political art and the construction of an alternative interpretation of history. Barreda is also Curator of the Solidaridad Museum Project in Toronto. The Museum strives to broaden public understanding of the history of the Chilean Diaspora through multifaceted programs: exhibitions; research and publication; collecting and preserving material culture art and artifacts relating to the Chilean communities living abroad; annual commemorations; distribution of educational materials and teacher resources; and a variety of public programming designed to enhance understanding of the impacts of military interventions in political processes and related issues, including those of contemporary significance. Barreda is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, 2000 and is presently Graphic Design Manager of the United Way, Toronto.

Parallel Processes. Using images and sounds that questions the relevance of the image as a sole representation of existence. They emphasizes a need to practice our sense of proprioceptive in order to acknowledge those who are no longer present, but yet exist. The systematic violation of human rights under the dictatorship engendered two parallel processes. On one hand, the terrible violations continuously fed the collective imaginary with haunting symbols of oblivion. These symbols, nonetheless, persistently reminded society of its past, of the consequences of one’s acts, and also fostered, in time, the resurgence of a new collective identity based on resistance. On the other hand, they also prompted the regime to use all of its media resources to construct a facade in order to distort truth and the grotesque violence of fascism.

Exhibition at Lennox Contemporary Gallery, Toronto, Canada; in the framework of aluCine Festival.