War & Hope
Western Australian Maritime Museum
November 2021
At the Western Australian Maritime Museum, Bacarreza exhibited his painting “War and Hope” (2022) as part of Dr. Lesa Melnyczuk’s presentation Ukraine 1932 and Ukraine 2022. Dr. Melnyczuk showed a visual snapshot of the history of Ukraine, leading up to the Russian led famine-genocide of 1932-1933, called the Holodomor. The footage of Ukraine demonstrated how the nation rebuilt itself after Holodomor, only to be targeted again by Russia in February of 2022.
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Dr. Melnyczuk lectured about the Ukrainian history of genocide and the current war’s effects on Ukrainians, especially children, displaced by the Russian invasion. After drawing parallels between the ongoing war and its genocidal implications for the Ukrainian people and the Holodomor, Ukrainian children displaced by the war sang the Ukrainian national anthem.
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The presentation featured Bacarreza, participating live from Chile. He spoke about the visual interpretations of “War and Hope,” which depicts a Ukrainian mother and her two young boys who fled from Ukraine to Australia when the war started.
Dr. Melnyczuk’s complete presentation is available at:
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PARAÍSO PERDIDO
January / February 2021
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Paraíso Perdido (Lost Paradise) portrays artist Jose Bacarreza’s journey from Chile across Australia. Born in Chile (1982) during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, true freedom existed only in one’s imagination. As a child, Bacarreza lived with government-mandated curfews, and fear of the harsh hand of the government hung in the air like petrol fumes.
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Though Pinochet’s rule ended in 1989, Chile remains isolated as if it were an island within the continent of South America. A long, narrow country that extends like a ribbon down South America’s west coast, the coastline is over 6,437 kilometers (4,000 miles) long and only about 91 kilometers wide (61 miles). At its northern tip is the Atacama desert — the driest desert in the world. To the east, the Andes mountain range forms a natural frontier with Argentina. The Pacific Ocean is to the west, and the country’s land ends at the Antarctic Basin in the south. There are many extremes in Chile, both ideologically and geographically.
In Australia, Bacarreza traveled throughout the country, from the east to the west coast. These works reflect Bacarreza’s emotions and adventures. Experiencing daily surprises, whether having a conversation or seeing a new animal, Bacarreza reflects on the sense of “knowing where you are going, but not knowing how you got there.” There is depth behind his clever quip.
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As Bacarreza explored Australia’s diverse topography, culture, and ecosystem, his paintings let the viewer dive into a new reality. Bacarreza depicts the path of a ‘lone ranger’ on the ‘open’ range. Though the global pandemic has pushed us into isolation, we are not alone in our psyches. One sees a traveler paradoxically moving forward yet carrying the past with him.