Date : Jan. 14, 2023 – Feb. 11, 2023

Opening : Jan. 14, 2023 (Sat) 15pm

Artists : Marcel Reyes-Cortez

Venue : VT Artsalon (B1, No.17, Ln.56, Sec. 3, Xinsheng N. Rd, TaipeiCity 104, Taiwan.)

While developing his art practice with porcelain, Marcel was deeply moved and inspired by the growing civil unrests taking shape across the world. What is shared by these movements, within their different political contexts and historical circumstances, is people’s wish and determination to fight for a better future. Among them, closer to his heart was the uprising in Chile during 2019/20 and still ongoing today. Many thousands of people have since been arrested, injured and killed during the demonstrations against the growing inequality in society, including the Chilean aboriginal communities such as the Mapuche, who have since their colonialization and still today suffer abuse from society and police authorities.

Marcel’s photographic background, combined with his ethnographic research, have created an arena where Marcel’s work can serve as a witness and testament of social struggle. His tiles are murals commemorating major events, and his vases archived objects glorifying heroes that will always shine in history. The artworks would serve as a reminder for future generations as a memento of time in history.

In this series, Marcel concentrates on the frontline scenes and demonstrators. Frontline protestors endure the direct impact of police brutality with their rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas. Some of them became legendary in the movement, but what have made the protest possible were the numerous nameless heroes who placed their own life at risk to defend the right to protest. These images symbolize true bravery and determination.

With porcelain, Marcel tries to portray the courage reflected in the Chilean social movement: Without fear, people ask for justice and the right to live free and in dignity. The title of the exhibition, “Join all your tears until you make them metal”, is taken from a poem of famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda about his thoughts on the Spanish civil war.