EXILIO (EXILED)
CHILE TO SOUTH-WEST SYDNEY
The 1973 Chilean Military Coup d’état forced a whole generation into exile. One of the darkest chapters in the history of Latin America caused thousands of Chileans to be kidnapped, tortured, disappeared and murdered. The military, commanded by General Pinochet and supported by the US, UK and Australian Governments, overthrew the democratically elected left-wing government of President Salvador Allende.
By 1981 more than 18,000 arrived in Australia after seeking refugee status with further waves throughout the 1980s. Many made their new home in Sydney’s western suburbs of Liverpool, Campbelltown and Fairfield.
Liverpool Regional Museum has commissioned Chilean born filmmaker Milena Sanhueza Ben-David (Recapture Productions) to create a series of video testimonials from the Chilean Community in Western Sydney.
The geopolitics leading up to the coup and generational after-effects of trauma and loss are presented in archives, artefacts and ‘Arpilleras’ – a communal folk-art process created by women which depict pictorial narratives and testimonies of protest in brightly coloured textiles.
This is some of their stories.
21 May – 28 Sept 2024
Image: Rivera Family departing Chile, Aeropuerto Internacional De Pudahuel, Santiago, 1977 (Courtesy of Nadia Rivera)
