Koen Wessing RIP

I was down at the Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral (known as GAM) the other day where, as it was in its final week, I went to the Koen Wessing exhibition for the second time. Wessing was a Dutch photographer who died in February this year and was one of the first international photographers on the scene following the military coup on 11th September 1973 that brought Pinochet into power. As well as documenting the soldiers on the streets of downtown Santiago, he also managed to get into the national stadium where thousands of Chileans were imprisoned and where many were murdered for their supposed leftist connections or sympathies.

Wessing´s photos capture the tense and stricken atmosphere of Chile at the time, the aftermath of the overthrow of the democratically-elected government, the death of President Allende, and the brutal lockdown of the country. The shock of the people is obvious from photos that show civilians passing rows of heavily-armed soldiers in the streets, women hurrying their children past the barrels of guns. Men are escorted into the stadium, from where many would never return. They stand proud as they are photographed by the military, their crimes being membership of trade unions or the Communist Party. They stand on the terraces of the stadium, not knowing what will become of them.

There is also a smaller section of photos from Wessing´s time in Nicaragua during the Sandanista revolution and in El Salvador following the assassination of Archbishop Romero in 1980. The only violent image in all the exhibition is from El Salvador, in which the body of a shot man is loaded onto the back of a pick-up truck. The power of Wessing´s work lies in the human aspect, through expressions of trauma and fear, or defiance. It is a fascinating exhibition.

The GAM is a new cultural centre in Santiago where I often go in my spare time. I´ve written a couple of articles about the place and its significance as a symbol of modern Chile, particularly relevant when you consider its previous function. Here´s the one I did a while ago for thecommentfactory :

http://www.thecommentfactory.com/chiles-art-and-culture-flourishing-at-last-3853/

For more details on the late Koen Wessing, there's a Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Koen-Wessing/185967098104951