As an expression of solidarity, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) received around 2,000 political refugees from Chile following the military coup of 11 September 1973. Among them was muralist César Olhagaray, a member of Chile’s legendary Ramona Parra Brigade from 1970–73, a collective of muralists founded in 1968 that gained popularity transforming the streets of Chile with colourful, popular aesthetics that supported the programme of socialist president Salvador Allende (1970–73). Olhagaray arrived in Dresden in 1974, where he undertook his studies at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden (Academy of Fine Arts Dresden). The artist has since created more than eighty murals, including one in Maputo, Mozambique, as part of cultural exchanges with the GDR’s Bruderländer (brother countries) in 1983. Commemorating Mozambique’s independence from Portugal in 1975, the mural Ohne Titel (Allegorie der Unabhängigkeit von Moçambique) was created for the National Festival of Mozambican Youth, founded in 1977 as a cultural format of postcolonial encounter and a celebration of art’s presence in public spaces. The mural features motifs of feminized guitar-bodies united in community, as mothers embracing the new nation emerging from independence. Another of Olhagaray’s murals, Solidarität (1986), which was originally painted in a youth club in East Berlin, recalls the anti-fascist, anti-apartheid, and anti-war struggles of the international solidarity movement in the GDR. Neither work has survived to the present day and so drawing from reference images as well as his memories of them, Olhagaray recreates both murals at HKW, reactivating their pictorial narratives to not only spark joy but also resonate with contemporary political struggles.

Co-produced by César Olhagaray and Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), 2023-24.

Works in the exhibition: Solidarität [Solidarity] (1986/2024), mural. mixed media on linen, reproduction 3.1 × 9.4 m); Ohne Titel (Allegorie der Unabhängigkeit von Moçambique)  [Untitled (Allegory of the independence of Moçambique)], (1983/2024), mural, 3 reproductions each 2.37 × 5.73 m (Mrinalini Mukherjee Hall). Courtesy of the artist