Uncovering the Chilean Mural: The Forgotten 11th September

Leeds University Union Foyer
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT

Open 11 to 15 December 2017
Exhibition launch event: Thursday 7 December

Students from the MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies course at the University of Leeds have worked with Leeds University Union and the Chilean community in Yorkshire to curate an exhibition regarding a mural which has recently been uncovered in the Leeds University Union foyer.

This exhibition is part of a wider project endorsed by the Heritage Lottery Fund to support the restoration of the mural, and it will be accompanied by a host of related events.

The mural was created in 1976 by a group of Chilean refugees who had come to Leeds to flee the military junta of the Pinochet regime. On 11 September 1973, General Augusto Pinochet overthrew President Salvador Allende and his socialist government in a coup d’état. Under the military junta thousands were tortured, killed or disappeared. This left a lasting legacy in Chile that has still not been completely resolved today.

In response to the uncovering of the mural, members of the local Chilean community have shared their stories about life in Chile during the dictatorship and in the following years as exiles. The mural is a window to the political history of Chile and the legacy of the relationship between the Chilean community and Leeds.

The exhibition encourages the audience to engage with the mural by listening to interviews with individuals from the Chilean community in Yorkshire. The students involved in curating this display hope to recall the mural and its past so that the forgotten histories of Chile may also be uncovered.

The exhibition will be launched as part of an event on Thursday 7 December which will showcase a range of exhibition projects curated by MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies students across campus. See here for more information including how to book.

Image: Chilean Mural uncovered at Leeds University Union.