Week 3: Liliana Wilson (Artist)

“City of Blood,” 1977, prismacolor pencil on paper, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in

Liliana Wilson Grez was born in Valparasiso, Chile. Grez lived in Chile well into her adulthood and had obtained a law degree in Chile. However, like many other Chileans, during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, Grez was forced to flee the country. Wilson settled in Austin, Texas in 1977 and took up drawing, something she had done as a past time during her childhood. Wilson began taking drawing classes at Austin Community College and eventually studied painting at Texas State University. Wilson's first solo exhibition was at Austin's La Pena gallery in 1989. Wilson had been inspired by Chicana artists, writers, and activists in the '80s and '90s, who she become acquainted with at La Pena, a known Latino cultural arts center in Austin. Although Wilson had been able to survive and obtain a degree in Chile during Pinochet's power, she was impacted by having to see people being forcefully abducted, as well as the repression and censorship that took place. Pinochet's dictatorship did not end until 1990 and it is estimated that 3,000 people, known as "the missing" were arrested and never seen again. It is understood today that these political prisoners had been tortured and killed. Wilson herself became aware when (interview) men who had been tortured on a ship and then thrown overboard had washed to the shore. Wilson and her family went to the beach and saw with their own eyes these mens remains. Wilson's early drawing from when she arrived to the U.S. show that she was making an effort to deal with what she had experienced. An example of this would be "City of Blood" (above) which employs a gentle style but presents disturbing subject matter. The man floating above the building drips blood, but the way his arms our outstretched as though he is flying, along with the weightlessness of his body, suggest that he is free and all that is left is for him to look as he becomes seperate from the peril that is happening. Wilson's gentle style in consistent through out her art and it can be interpreted as a method being employed in order to engage viewers in a way that creates contemplation and conversation, which is sometimes be discouraged by shocking people with gruesome details.

While engaged with La Pena gallery, as well as, the San Antonio art community, Wilson connected with the struggles of Mexican immigrants and touched upon the topic in a many pieces, including "El color del la esperanza," translated to "The color of hope" in which she sympathizes for a young boy who did not make it across the border, but who remains protected by the Virgen de Guadelupe and the Aztec sun who are painted in the back. In some paintings, Wilson touches on the experience of herself and the experience of others who struggle with dual identities, in particular with having to flee from a country to another. And in another piece, the experience of a women who is experiencing domestic violence. There is a Nahautl term which has been employed by Chicana artists and that is "nepantla" which translated to "being between two spaces." This term is important to Wilson's art because she is almost always illustrating the internal stress being experienced by individuals who may be experiencing "nepantla". The term is also important to Chicana art since it is touches on topics like immigration, gender, sexual orientation, and cultural displacement that all can create this experience. 

Liliana Wilson’s “Greed 2,” 2003, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 96 in., Collection of the artist.

The image above is a part of one of Wilson's more recent collections which  she calls she refers to with the phrase “alma y esperanza” translated to soul in hope. It is understood that these children are ambassadors for a better future. 

Sources: 

Rubin, David S. “Liliana Wilson's Gentle Activism.” San Antonio Report, 7 Oct. 2016, sanantonioreport.org/liliana-wilsons-gentle-activism/.

“Liliana Wilson Grez About.” Liliana Wilson, lilianawilson.weebly.com/about.html.

“Oral History Interview with Liliana Wilson, 2004.” Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-liliana-wilson-13093.