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Social Identities: Journal for the Study

of Race, Nation and Culture
Publication details, including instructions for authors and
subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/csid20

Tales from the South: a visual essay

Antonio Traverso

Department of Film and Television , Curtin University of

Technology , Western Australia
Published online: 21 Feb 2009.

To cite this article: Antonio Traverso (2009) Tales from the South: a visual essay , Social Identities:
Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, 15:1, 99-111, DOI: 10.1080/13504630802693208
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504630802693208

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Social Identities
Vol. 15, No. 1, January 2009, 99
111

Tales from the South: a visual essay1

Antonio Traverso*

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Department of Film and Television, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia

A story
With no beginning and no end
A displacement
An uncovering of spaces
Existing within the one
I momentarily inhabit

*Email: A.Traverso@curtin.edu.au
ISSN 1350-4630 print/ISSN 1363-0296 online
# 2009 Antonio Traverso
DOI: 10.1080/13504630802693208
http://www.informaworld.com

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100

A. Traverso

I come from a place often described as long and narrow

(Like a sword, we were told)
Yet for me it was circular and chaotic (Like a trail, I replied)
Id find myself on dry Northern sands
After crossing a river in the rain of the South
Or after falling asleep on a hot city afternoon
Id wake up shivering on a frozen island
When I thought life was beginning, they killed me
When I smiled, they hit me
And when I was loved, I hit back

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Social Identities

I dont know for how long I ran

I found myself in a prehistoric landscape
My location shifted independently of my wishes
I thought of Cortazars characters
Passing from one city to another
As they step down from trams or walk through bridges
Such is this story, I dont know where or when it began
But it circulates between there and here
Between then and now

101

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102

A. Traverso

In her dream Magdalena saw herself walk

In a place that both frightened and inspired her
She sensed eyes everywhere looking at her
She felt something open to let her through
And then close behind her
A soundless voice summoned her:
I am your aleph, Magdalena, come closer
Dont look, you may loose your mind
Come closer and fuse with me

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I was followed on the street one night and kidnapped in a car

I was isolated for 3 months, interrogated, tortured and raped

103

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104

A. Traverso

Electricity and hot cigarettes were applied to my body

I was forced to sign false statements
I was drugged and filmed pleading guilty to false charges

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A call from the shore, a light too bright to be looked at

It was Pincoya, bringer of abundance and fertility
Magdalena didnt know of Pincoyas lethal look
But her eyes were not burnt by this fire
Nor was her skin consumed like burning coal

105

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106

A. Traverso

Magdalena, the silent one

Saw in her mind the image of two mirrors
One in front of the other
Reproducing her own image ad infinitum

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Social Identities

The surroundings bend around themselves

Space becomes distorted
At times its friendly, at times threatening
It becomes a labyrinth
Protecting a beast chasing you in dreams

107

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108

A. Traverso

This is my story
You may enter but please be careful
Everything here is distorted
Time and space interwoven
There are no visions, only fleeting glances
At that which is and is not
That could have been but was not
That could possibly be

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This story is my struggle, my travail

My daily defeat, my Sundays victory

109

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110

A. Traverso

This story burns, crushes, interrogates me

It rapes, plunders and conquers me
Then it finds my missing body when I had given up the search

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111

Yet this story is also my self-defence, my liberation

My self-encounter, my cleansing
This story is my intimate rebellion
My invisible revolution
My returning, my moving on

Note
1. Text and images from Tales from the South (experimental video, writer & director Antonio
Traverso, 1997, Australia/Chile, 21 mins). The film was produced in association with the
Australian Film Commission and received the second prize in the experimental category in
the 1997 Nextframe International Film Festival, Philadelphia, USA. It has been screened in
Australia, Chile, UK, and USA.