Fig. 2 Eugenio Dittborn Para vestir (Pintura aeropostale num. 56) [To Clothe (Airmail Painting Num. 56)], 1986-1987.

Eugenio Dittborn Remembers the Forgotten, Part 3

The second pintura aeropostale I would like to look at is Para vestir (Pintura aeropostale num. 56) [To Clothe (Airmail Painting No. 56] (1986-1987) (Fig. 2). Here, Dittborn uses another moment in history, an earthquake, and quotes a newspaper article in the top right hand corner while also writing “Houses with no life.” In this piece he refers to the past again by using mug shots of petty criminals from the 1930s and 1940s. But, the reference to the earthquake seems quite significant in that people are often buried in rubble and are not recovered for days or weeks. These people are lost. And the victims are lost to time. But, he attempts to resurrect the memory of these victims that are dead and gone by providing us with a reference to them. The faces of the men also call on us to remember these petty criminals as well who have been written off in the dredges of history because most of these men were of lower classes, the same lower classes that would vote for Allende.

The words that flow across the top from left to right are peculiar. The first box reads “Houses with no life” and could refer to the earthquake also referenced in that box since the houses would have been damaged or destroyed, killing or injuring the inhabitants. Or perhaps the words refer to the disappeared and their absence from their homes. One could even read the phrase as alluding to the men portrayed, long forgotten, and the absence that they left to be filled. Either way we choose to read this, it all comes back to loss. The next phrase, “Thieves with no death,” suggests that the dead or forgotten are still with us as long as we choose to remember them. However, the last two phrases, “Thieves with no ties” and “Thieves with no hats” are perhaps the most peculiar. These phrases seem to emphasize what the criminals lack. The criminals under the hats reference seem to be of a lower class standing while the ones on the right, lacking the hats, seem to be from a higher class standing, although one can not be sure just based on the clothing portrayed in these mug shots. But, if we go with this assumption, it could be said that criminals come from all walks of life and, by extension to the current circumstances at the time, that everyone is affected. Or, it could also be a sort of arbitrary set of classification that one might find in a prison. 
   

These works of Dittborn are designed around transit. They are easily folded and mailed off to destinations around the world, but their point of origin is in Santiago, Chile. While the themes in his work are universal, “like journeys and homecomings, death and survival, they also read within the Chilean context…as political critique.” (1) Because the faces of the criminals are “substitutes for those who in more recent history disappeared without a trace,” the circulation of these works becomes even more important. (2) The political critique by people who are not given the freedom of movement or expression in Chile are thus given visibility around the globe by the circulation of these works.

References:

1. Gina McDaniel Tarver “Eugenio Dittborn” in Blanton Museum of Art Latin American Collection p. 179.

2. Ibid.