MARÍA MELÉNDEZ
SELECTED WORKS
2012-2016
BIO / CV
María Meléndez * 1983 in Santiago de Chile Has a Bachelor Degree in Visual Arts with major in Photography at University of Chile, Santiago de Chile and currently conducting studies in Arts at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, Germany. Lives and works in Munich, Germany. 2017 Keep Control. Group Exhibition. Galerie KnustxKunz 2016 FILE, Electronic Language International Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Electronic Catalog 2015 Galaxias Masculatus. Group Exhibition. Museum of Contemporary Art, Valdivia, Chile. 2015 Curved yellow Fruit. Curatorial work. Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich, Germany. 2014 Milbertshofen, Contribution for GUERRILLA Contemporary Photography Zine. http://www.guerrilla-zine.org/issues/issue-8/ 2013 Viento sur. Jahresausstellung Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich, Germany. 2012 Breves ejercicios simbólicos. El don de la palabra. N 8. INDICE. Las cosas por su nombre. Contribution for Rufian Revista, Chile. In collaboration with Paula Arrieta. http://rufianrevista.org/portfolio/breves-ejercicios-simbolicos-el-don-de-lapalabra/ Milbertshofen. Jahresausstellung Adbk München, Germany. Milbertshofen. Public intervention. Santiago. Public intervention Dictadura. Public intervention Selected for the International Portfolio Review Organized by the National Council of the Arts, Chile. Rewiewed by photographer and Brazilian curator Iata Cannabrava. 2011 Lente Latino. Group exhibition. Museum of Bellas Artes. Santiago, Chile. Rango familiar, N 4 Un nuevo manual para la moral y la buenas costumbres. Contribution for Rufián Revista, Chile. http://rufianrevista.org/portfolio/rango-familiar/ 2010 Por la boca muere el pez. Bachelor degree, Universidad de Chile. Santiago, Chile. 2009 Miradas Cruzadas. Group Exhibition. Sala Juan Egenau. Universidad de Chile. Santiago, Chile. 2008 Carahue. Group Exhibition. Itinerant. Universidad de Chile. Santiago Chile. Funded by Blue Fund for Student Creativity. University of Chile. 2007 Intercultural student exchange and documentary photography project realized in the Hochschule für bildende Künste, Hamburg, Germany 2005 Prize for the student initiatives of the Solidarity University fund. Fundación Chile builds country. 2004 Blue Fund for Student Creativity. University of Chile.
INDEX
PAISAJES 1, 2 & 3 / 2012 SANTIAGO / 2012 MILBERTSHOFEN / 2012 UNTITLED (2010) / 2013 ADLERS NEST / 2014 UNTITLED (1990) / 2015 RECETARIO / 2016 RECETARIO B / 2016
Gelatin silver print / 2012 In 1975 the operation Retreat of televisions was carried out by the order of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Around 170 corpses of political prisoners killed during the dictatorship were exhumed from mass graves and thrown into the sea without leaving a trace. The bodies were never found.the work Paisajes I - III exerts its role of witness and proof of evidence through photographing the specific area where it is believed those mass graves once existed. PAISAJES I - III
Public Intervention / Poster on wall / 2012 On January 4, 2012, the printed and virtual newspapers of Chile informed the Chilean people that the National Council of Education had taken the following determination: The word DICTADURA (dictatorship), refering to the period between 1973 and 1989 in Chile, would be removed from all school books and replaced by the words Military Regime. In reaction to this euphemism an impression on paper of the word DITADUCRA was installed in the center of the Chilean capital. The simple change of the order of letters within this specific word (DICTADURA=DIC- TATORSHIP) stresses its own importance and historic relevance in the context of following generations. SANTIAGO, 2012
Public Intervention / Poster on wall / 2012 In Milbertshofen, a district of Munich, Germany, the Nazi dictatorship organized temporary camps for Jews that then were transferred to the concentration camps in Poland and Lithuania. Today the majority of the population with migratory origin lives in that same area. In this historically diverse setting a print on paper of the word VAETRALND was installed. Using the same technique of changing letters within the word (see description on previous page) it refers to VATERLAND - a term that has changed its meaning over and over throughout the course of German history and context. This intevention questions the true meaning of the word and its effective use in the contemporary world. MILBERTSHOFEN, 2012
SDV / ca. 17 min / color / 2013 Untitled (2010) tracks the route between Dichato and Penco. Both towns being located in the coastal area of the eighth region of Chile were hit by a devastating tsunami after an 8.9 (Richter) earthquake in February 2010. Within 17 minutes the viewer is witness to an uncut footage of the typical architecture of the area being reconstructed. Four family stories form the narrative providing a glimpse to the identity of a country. UNTITLED (2010)
C-type prints / 2014 The photographic work Adlers Nest approaches inherent phenomena of migration such as homeland, bloodlines respectively personal origin, national and subjective identity. The portraits of adolescent peer groups with migratory origin in the district of Milbertshofen, Munich, Germany represent a generation of a growing part of society that lives as foreigners in the country they were born in. ADLERS NEST
HDV / 8:14 min / Color & sound / 2015 The starting point of the plot is set in the year 1990. That is when the storytelling main character returns to Chile after the end of the military dictatorship and after living four years in the United States of America as an young immigrant girl from Chile. The off voice tells personal anecdotes about her childhood and everyday experience from that period of her life. A second story given by the image is juxtaposed recounting a trip by boat offered by the local fishermen starting from the public beach of the Chilean town Dichato that was massively affected by the tsunami of 2010 to Pingueral, a private beach resort for the wealthy part of society located nearby. These two stories that at first seem to have no relationship between each other, confront the idea of freedom after the dictatorship with the return to democracy in Chile. UNTITLED (1990)
Book/ DIN A5 / 28 pages / Color / 2016 On December 10, 2006, the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet passed away in the Military Hospital of Santiago de Chile. Outside the building his followers wept his departure while his political opponents celebrated in the center of the capital. His death brought up many issues: the end of a period, the failure of the judicial system in Chile and the phenomenally massive turnout of followers of the dictator. Recetario (cookbook) is a book that merges the images taken on that same day 10 years ago outside of the Military Hospital with typical Chilean recipes. Recetario is a book about the history of Chile and its traditions. It is dedicated to my Chilean-German daughters and will be send by mail to 100 other Chileans chosen at random. RECETARIO
Silkscreen print on paper / four color process / DIN A1 / Edition of 12 / 2016 Recetario B is an excerpt from the book Recetario for upcoming public intervention. RECETARIO B
María Meléndez Akademie der Bildenden Künste München Klasse Pitz mail@maria-melendez.com 2016