Ante la imagen del desierto. Boceto de un atlas para mirar la historia

Abstract

This article is concerned with the construction processes of the desert’s imaginary, which support our views of the Argentinian Patagonia. In this respect, we intend to focus on the potential of images as devices which construct new and consolidate hegemonic narratives, and on the extent to which images have a bearing on the deconstruction of such narratives, that is to say, their disassembling capacity. Our starting point is that the controversies observed in the field of visual representations reveal the political tensions that are inherent to them, this allowing the untangling of power struggles and axial disputes over the construction of the Nation’s present time. Having understood such construction as a complex historical process that makes the past collide with the present, we acknowledge the power of images as complex objects that are part of history, and as the foundations of heterogeneous times. For such reason, the contributions from philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman to the historical study of images, contained in his book Ante el tiempo. Historia del arte y anacronismo de las imágenes (2015), are of paramount relevance to this article.