At a time when the wagons are circled, and exclusionary nationalism (and worse ideological forces) once again raise their ugly heads in so many of the countries we thought were steadfast democracies, a transnational approach to art is certainly important. Knowledge of an artist’s background, temporally, geographically and culturally, might help us to gain a greater understanding if not appreciation of his work, which is surely affected by specific experiential pressures.
Tacla came of age in Chile during the time of the military coup and left the country for the United States in 1981, these days sharing his time between New York City and Santiago, Chile. Add to that his Syrian and Palestinian ancestry — peoples exposed to inordinate amounts of suffering and oppression across their histories — and a heightened sensibility for abuses of power and the consequences of displacement is to be expected. That sensibility indeed influenced the contents of his work that I encountered at The Reser, in an exhibition titled Stagings/Escenarios.
