"Destruction Does Not Create Memory; It Remains in Memory." The Largest Exhibition of Jorge Tacla Arrives in Sharjah

The Sharjah Art Foundation is presenting "Time the Destroyer Is Time the Preserver," the largest solo exhibition to date dedicated to Chilean artist Jorge Tacla (b. 1958). Featuring over 170 works spanning four decades—including paintings, drawings, notebooks, and a large-scale installation—the show is organized into eight chapters that confront hierarchies of human suffering, challenge false binaries between victim and perpetrator, and reveal connections between disparate acts of structural violence. Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi and Abdulla Aljanahi, the exhibition takes its title from a T. S. Eliot verse and offers a transversal reading of Tacla's practice, which explores memory, historical violence, and resistance through imagery of exile, state violence, war, social protest, and catastrophe.

This exhibition matters because it positions Tacla's work as a sustained reflection on visible and invisible forms of trauma, insisting on the importance of personal testimony in an era increasingly dominated by satellite imagery and machine vision. By subjecting media images to processes of erasure, fragmentation, and transformation, Tacla creates "meta-images" that not only depict events but also examine how those events become inscribed in individual and collective consciousness. The show's location in Sharjah—a cultural hub in the UAE—and its scale underscore the growing international recognition of Latin American artists and the enduring relevance of art that grapples with historical violence and memory.