Claudia del Fierro: The Sweet Promise @ Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago

Comments by the artist, Claudia del Fierro:

The Sweet Promise is a video installation that began by approaching people in Melbourne from various migrant backgrounds. The project developed through a series of conversations with a dozen local migrants who collaborated by sharing personal views about loss, longing and their sense of identity. The Sweet Promise has made it possible for me to engage with the local community from a privileged place: that of ‘the other’.

Click on flyer images above to enlarge

As an artist from Latin America, my intention was to develop a collaborative work in Melbourne as a way of approaching some of the issues surrounding recent migration. The Sweet Promise mirrors my own past experiences as a migrant and premises strategies for an art practice that considers ‘cross border’ concerns.

My initial wish to attempt to place my practice in a ‘situation of risk’ has led me to experience displacement through the experiences of others, who have in turn shared their insight, helping to reformulate my work in unsuspected ways.

The installation at Project Space Gallery in Melbourne reflects the process of the work. Documentation in the form of text and video are exhibited together with collaborations in the form of music, sound, drawing or poetry, from people who were interviewed for this project.

The Sweet Promise. 2007. Installation. 2 video projections, 1 animation, sound, objects. Project Space Gallery, Melbourne, Australia. July 2007.
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago, Chile. November-Decemeber 2007.

Claudia del Fierro was the South Project/RMIT Artist-in-Residence for 2007, and The Sweet Promise was developed during her residency in Melbourne during June-July this year.