KÜTRAL VARGAS HUAIQUIMILLA: PERFORMAR LA SANGRE, HABITAR SU FLUJO, DIMENSIONAR LA HERIDA
Mapuche visual artist and performer Kütral Vargas Huaiquimilla presents "Performance de la sangre" (Performance of Blood) at Galería Gabriela Mistral in Santiago, Chile. Based on the artist's 2024 novel of the same name, the exhibition utilizes video-performance, sculpture, and clinical materials like medication vials to explore the intimate and collective experience of living with HIV. The project marks a significant interdisciplinary intersection of Mapuche identity, pharmacology, and contemporary medicalization.
This exhibition is vital for its contribution to the social memory of HIV/AIDS in Latin America, moving beyond clinical data to address the emotional and political dimensions of the virus. By framing the body as a site of both medical control and creative resistance, Vargas Huaiquimilla challenges the persistent stigma surrounding the condition while highlighting the evolution of public health activism in the era of antiretroviral therapy and globalization.