Voluspa Jarpa and the Archival Turn: A Politics of Resistance

In 1973, Chile’s democratic government was overthrown for a military regime and a dictatorship that would last over two decades. Denouncing a history of U.S. intervention, authoritarianism, and censorship, Voluspa Jarpa’s installation Judd Shaft (2016-Present) exposes hundreds of declassified documents from the CIA to create what I term the “necroarchivos.” Defined as contemporary artworks that highlight information previously lost, hidden, or manipulated, the necroarchivos resist a “necropolitics;” or what Achille Mbembe defines as a politics of life and death; to present fragmented narratives, redefine histories, and advocate for collective memories. Under this conceptual framework, the artwork not only archives or documents violence, but condemns aggressions against communities and renounces the expendability of bodies. How does the artist engages art historical discourses to decolonize knowledge and challenge the status quo? How does Jarpa expose a politics of expansionism and extraction to demand national sovereignty, freedom, and the right to live? How is the archive repurposed in Judd Shaft to present not only a counter-narrative but a counter-archive? By interviewing the artist and tracing her artistic trajectory, as well as incorporating political theories, art theory, and historical discourses, I map Jarpa’s strategies of resistance. I argue Jarpa’s necroarchivos partake in a larger archival impulse, first identified by Hal Foster and more recently re-examined by Sara Callahan, to denounce a politics of negation (or denial), combat political repression and cultural amnesia, and call for democracy and social justice.