“Retorno is a compilation of images taken between October 2019 and October 2021 in Santiago, Chile the city in which I was born and raised. These images represent my desire to get back to my city after more than a decade of living abroad, but they also represent the collective desire of the people of Chile to get back to a more human-centered society that values people over profits. In October of 2019, young high-school students led a small scale non-hierarchical protest movement that evolved into a nationwide one of discontent and rebellion lasting several years, and it can arguably be considered to have never stopped, since protests are still happening to this day (late 2022).
The process Chile was going through coincided with my return to Santiago, and so the idea to walk the streets re-discovering my city as well as seeing what was happening “out there” gave birth to these images which show parts of manifestations and protests around the city during the “Social uprising” but also show my own view of what the city felt at the time. Sometimes I would find a sign on a wall that would relate to the protests, other times something in the trash would catch my attention, something burning or a funny character would cross my path and I would go home happily filled with new stories. And so Return’s story is a mix of protests, big city living, street life, and my own personal eye that after being away for so long got to re-discover parts of the city and of our culture that I had previously forgotten about it and these images help me connect to that unique moment of life; El Retorno (The Return).”
