Latineos - Latin America, Caribbean, arts, culture

‘Outsider Art’ is one of the terms used to refer to work made by self-taught artists in general, and inpatients (or clients, as preferred by some) in psychiatric institutions, in particular. The use of the term is polemic for it implies a distinction between ‘outsider’ and mainstream art.

This May, Buenos Aires will host the twentieth edition of arteBA, the major fair of Latin American art held annually in the city. Under the banner ‘una fiesta continental’, arteBA will open its doors to over 120, 000 visitors eager to view the latest offerings from some of Latin America’s most exciting contemporary artists.¹

Argentina is a land of many talents and one of the Latin American countries where culture and the arts are the most revered. When it comes to the visual arts, Argentina has never been short of talent and of artists with unique vision. Contemporary and classical visual artists alike have been pushing boundaries for years and inspiring their fellow artists worldwide.

Today, Kiki Machado, was opening an exhibition of new work with fellow artists Julia and Nina Miranda, in this nice and spacious refurbished gallery space, in London. I went to see them while they were putting the final touches.

Her work is often seen as a careful balance between shapes, colours and texture. All this, through the use of recycled materials.

"My work incorporates the contrast of the tropical colours of my native Brazil and the green and gray tones of London my home city. From my years as a graphic designer student, I have developed a passion to reuse materials that would otherwise be discarded. This passion has taken me to acquire through many years a great amount of material which I now transforms into art."

Non-fiction cinema has a long tradition in Latin America. Probably the first deliberate attempts of registering reality not just to preserve it on film or as an experiment  –but to express a point of view about the situations that were taken place– date back as far as 1910 during the Mexican Revolution. For instance, this social upheaval had a big impact in the development of cinema in the region and is considered to be one of the first historical events to be documented on film.

Sergio León spreads conviction and enthusiasm in every thought that he shares with me. He arrived to the UK 35 years ago; he was 27 years old, he was married and had a son. Life was going normally for Sergio in Chile. He was working as a TV producer and he was part of the team that made the advertising campaign for the government of Salvador Allende.