Art Inquiries
Abstract
At the time of Argentina’s independence, the gauchos (nomadic horsemen) had become the symbol of the nation in its purest form. Celebrated as independent, heroic and strong, and usually portrayed as the sole inhabitants of the Pampa, the idealized image of the gaucho has flooded popular culture and art even today, to the detriment of flesh-and-bone wage laborers of all genders. As opposed to this static image, I propose to examine Alessandra Sanguinetti’s photographic series, The Adventures of Guille and Belinda (ongoing since 1999), which focuses on girls and women in the countryside, pointedly highlights their previous absence. By contrasting historical depictions of the gaucho with Sanguinetti’s work, I contend that her photography disrupts the century-long established notions of life in rural Argentina and that it creates an expansive space for those systematically excluded from the myth of the “rural hero”. Moreover, I claim that her precise and unembellished portrayal presents itself as an alternative to the hetero-normative, machista narrative centering solely around gauchos. I doing so, this research provides a critical understanding of what has been historically included and excluded in the visual narrative of rural Argentina.
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Recommended Citation
López-Oliveros, Alejandra. "Redefining Gender and Rural Life in the Pampas: Alessandra Sanguinetti’s The Adventures of Guille and Belinda Series." 20, 1 (2025). https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/artinquiries_secacart/vol20/iss1/2
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