The University of La Laguna inaugurated three photographic exhibitions today, Friday, October 23, at the Casa Anchieta, as part of the fifth edition of Campus América, with Chile as the guest country. The exhibitions, titled 'Chile: Voices of Patagonia. Secrets of the Seabed', 'Chile: Voices of Patagonia: Martín Gusinde', and 'Two Hemispheres, One Sky: The Canary Islands and Chile', offer a journey through the natural, cultural, and scientific heritage of both territories. The exhibitions can be visited until October 30, the last day of Campus América, during morning and afternoon hours.
The inauguration, organized by the Vice-Rectorate for Internationalization and Cooperation, took place at the Casa Anchieta in La Laguna. Vice-Rector Inmaculada González and Adolfo Cordobés, the Councilor for Heritage of the La Laguna City Council, attended. Cordobés praised the collaboration with the academic center and the appropriateness of holding the exhibitions at the Casa Anchieta, where the religious figure who later dedicated his life to education in Latin American communities grew up.
Martín Gusinde and the memory of the native peoples
‘'Chile: Voices of Patagonia: Martín Gusinde' recovers the photographic legacy of the German priest and ethnologist who, between 1918 and 1924, undertook four expeditions to the southernmost tip of Chile to document the ways of life and traditions of the region's indigenous peoples. The exhibition brings together photographs, selected from an archive of approximately one thousand images, which constitute a valuable historical and anthropological record of the Selk'nam, Yagán, and Kawésqar communities.
Among the images, those related to initiation ceremonies and rituals of the Selk'nam people, in which ancestral knowledge was transmitted, stand out. The photographs also showcase the distinctive characteristics of the Yaghan and Kawésqar peoples, closely linked to navigation through the channels of the far south, as well as their dwellings, boats, and symbolic expressions through body painting. Gusinde's photographs constitute a significant heritage for the descendant communities, who maintain ties to the languages, territories, and knowledge documented more than a century ago. They also reflect how the German priest managed to integrate himself deeply into these communities, which had never before been photographed.
The recovery of this heritage has been made possible thanks to the digitization and restoration work on the original negatives undertaken by French publisher Xavier Barral for his French publishing house, Atelier EXB. Meanwhile, the non-profit organization Filantropía Cortés Solari acquired an edition of the collection to contribute to the preservation and dissemination of Chile's legacy.
Patagonian biodiversity, underwater
The exhibition 'Chile: Voices of Patagonia. Secrets of the Seabed' presents the work of Chilean underwater photographer Eduardo Sorensen, renowned for his documentation of his country's marine ecosystems and his participation in more than thirty scientific missions. The images come from successive expeditions carried out between 2018 and 2022 in the Melimoyu area of the Aysén Region, as part of a project developed by the MERI Foundation and Cortés Solari Philanthropy.
Through his photographs, Sorensen reveals the uniqueness of the seabed of northern Chilean Patagonia and its inhabitants, where species such as sea pens, jewel anemones, hydrocorals, snails and brittle stars display a variety of shapes and colors little known outside the underwater realm.
The exhibition invites reflection on the importance of knowing and conserving marine heritage in a context of growing concern about the threats affecting the oceans, especially in those corners inaccessible to the general public.
One sky over two hemispheres
The third exhibition, 'Two Hemispheres, One Sky: The Canary Islands and Chile', was conceived specifically for this edition of Campus América and establishes a link between the two regions through astronomy. The exhibition brings together photographs taken by astrophotographers from Chile and the Canary Islands, showcasing the unique features of their astronomical observatories and the beauty of the skies from which they conduct their scientific work.
Curated by Sara González of the University of La Laguna (ULL), with support from the IAC (Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics), the proposal highlights the exceptional conditions that make both territories internationally renowned sites for observing the universe. Their altitude, atmospheric stability, and low light pollution favor research and allow for obtaining high-quality images of the sky.
The exhibition also highlights the geographical and scientific connection between the Canary Islands and Chilean observatories. Their location in opposite hemispheres allows them to observe different regions of the sky and develop complementary research.
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