photo by Luis Sergio

Hello Dan,

Welcome to the latest newsletter from La Capilla Azul, an independent community-based exhibition space located in the agricultural hamlet of Contuy, inside the township of Queílen, on the Gran Isla de Chiloé, a few miles off the Patagonian coast of Chile. We at Capilla Azul host three exhibitions a year, typically of works by two artists, one based locally and the other invited from elsewhere. We’ve just launched our third year of our work with the inauguration on May 17 of Second Nature, which combines a newly completed stop-action animation, accompanied by drawings made in the process, by Esteban Pérez Ojeda, along with Home and Le Fenêtre, two classic video installations made by Gianfranco Foschino fifteen years ago, at the start of his career. Second Nature will remain on view through September 20. 

More than ever, Capilla Azul is proud to be part of Comarca Contuy, an artist-run rural lodge and residency for artists, which for several years has been deeply invested in presenting art workshops and classes for the three closest rural schools. In an important way, the children who attend school in Contuy, Apeche and Paildad have also become the primary audience for our work, since over time they are becoming accustomed to having La Capilla Azul and its programs part of their normal diet of educational activities, and their participation is furthered by Comarca Contuy’s direct outreach to their schools. 

In short, without Comarca Contuy there would be no Capilla Azul nor its openings, which is one reason why much of this newsletter is devoted to images from our May 17 event, as seen through the eyes of two quite different participants: Luis Sergio, a Peruvian photographer who was visiting for the first time by himself; and Guillermina Antúnez, who’s attended several previous openings, often accompanied by close family and friends. By sharing images of our most recent installation, preparations, opening and reception, the goal is to generate a tactile sense in you as a reader of what the Capilla Azul experience feels like. It isn’t limited to a single exhibition in a particular venue, but has become centered in the sharing of artistic activity within a community dedicated to maintaining Chilote culture in its full range of creative manifestations.  

Continuing the theme of photography alongside the images taken by Luis and Guillermina is the introduction written by our own Pablo Carvacho on an entirely unique itinerant project by the Spanish artist Fernando Aceña called the Museo Interactivo de la Luz. 

Photo of Maria Barría Tavie by Pablo Carvacho

I want to end my introduction to this newsletter by dedicating it to the loving memory of Maria Barría Tavie, who passed away on June 10 in Contuy, surrounded by her family. A devoted friend and close neighbor, Maria was an inseparable part of the Comarca Contuy experience since its very inception, always making sure that anyone who passed through the gates was welcomed as a friend. Her gentle nature was treasured by everyone, and she will be deeply missed by the entire Capilla Azul community.  

- Dan Cameron

In early 2020, at the dawn of the pandemic, when the world was shutting down and time seemed to stand still, Fernando Aceña found refuge in Comarca Contuy. He arrived with his Interactive Museum of Light, a truck converted into a home and photography lab, but his presence soon transcended the idea of ​​a visitor in transit. For almost a year, he became part of our daily life, sharing days of work and nights of conversation, between the cold of the estuary and the warmth of the community. 

A photographer with a nomadic soul, Fernando has spent decades exploring light and its mysteries. His work with analog photography has led him to build giant cameras, transforming architectural spaces into enormous black boxes where the image is revealed with the slowness of the essential. In the Comarca, this way of working found a natural echo: here everything is built with time, with collaborative hands, and with the patience of well-done craft. Analog photography and quotidian life at the Comarca — where the manual, the tangible, and the communal are the essence of what is created and cared for — intersected in perfect harmony. 

The Interactive Museum of Light is not just a photography exhibition, but a sensorial and educational experience. Fernando has transformed his truck into a traveling classroom, where visitors not only observe, but actively participate in the construction of the image. With simple materials and a deep understanding of how light works, he teaches how it becomes an image, how the camera obscura is the foundation of photography, and how each captured image is a testament to time. This pedagogy, based on experience and discovery, has allowed children and adults to rediscover the magic of light in a way that digital immediacy has relegated to the background. 

With his museum-truck, Fernando opened new windows to light. During inaugurations of La Capilla Azul, his space became a journey into perception that invited visitors to discover the purest principles of the image. Children and adults alike entered his universe, exploring the camera obscura, understanding the magic of light and shadow, exposure time, and the materiality of photography. For many, it was the first time they experienced images beyond digital immediacy, as if for a moment they were returned to the roots of observing and recording the world with patience and wonder. On each guided tour, Fernando shared stories about the history of photography, the importance of light in everyday life, and the artisanal craft that still survives in analog photography. 

Beyond technique, Fernando Aceña’s presence in the region left an imprint of collaboration and shared learning. His workshops and talks discussed not only photography, but also how to look differently, how to see light and shadow as a metaphor for collective creation. In every exchange, in every conversation at dusk, there was a sense that his time in these lands was not just that of an artist in residence, but that of someone who, for a spell, had found his place in the fabric of this community. His ties with the inhabitants of the Comarca were deep, forged in daily coexistence, in mutual learning, and in the certainty that art, when shared, leaves indelible marks. 

Today, although his truck continues its route along other roads, Fernando’s time in Comarca Contuy lives on in the memories of those who shared it with him. His approach to photography, as an act of patience and discovery, resonates with the way the Comarca understands art: as a collaborative process, rooted in the community and the territory. La Capilla Azul continues to be a meeting point for art and reflection, and in each inauguration, in each dialogue about the image, there is an echo of those conversations with Fernando, of his teachings, and of the light he leaves behind in this corner of the archipelago. 

- Pablo Carvacho

When our dear friend Rafael Lara passed away in July 2024, we were in the middle of developing a survey exhibition of his graphic work, along with prints made by some of the students he nurtured during his many years as the printmaking teacher at the Academia de Arte Islas al Sur in Castro. The immensity of Rafa's loss is still being felt by us all, but in the meantime a number of his friends and family have come together to help bring the project to fruition, and as a result it gives me enormous pleasure to announce that Free Spirit: The Graphic Art of Rafael Lara will open on September 27 at Capilla Azul. Including thirty-eight works made by Lara over the course of twenty-five years, the exhibition will also feature dozens of works by his students. An illustrated catalog will be published to coincide with the exhibition. 

Rafael Lara, Weichafe, Nancupel, Chilwe, Memoria, 2019, lithograph

In the heart of the Chiloé Archipelago, La Capilla Azul serves as a beacon of art, thought, and community — a space where boundaries between local and global dissolve through close encounters between creators and audiences. We aspire to establish ourselves as a cultural benchmark in Chiloé, Chile, and internationally, promoting a model for curatorial engagement that intertwines memory, territory, and contemporaneity in continuous dialogue.  

Our vision is for a space that hosts exhibitions, residencies, and meetings, but also becomes a laboratory for new forms of creation and learning, as well as a venue where curatorship is understood in its broadest sense: as the art of connecting, caring, and telling stories that resonate in the present while projecting possible futures. We want each person who enters Capilla Azul to feel that art has the power to transform their world.  

La Capilla Azul is more than a cultural venue. It represents a heartfelt commitment to the values of art, education and community. Because we believe that art can transcend time and space, and that its impact can change lives and strengthen territories, we work every day to ensure that this dream continues to grow, spreading its roots and branches far and wide. 

Along with its physical location in Chiloé, La Capilla Azul, Inc. operates as a not-for-profit corporation in NY State, and is registered by the US Treasury as a 501c3 public charity, which means that donations to La Capilla Azul, Inc. are tax-deductible within the prevailing IRS guidelines.  

Everything we’ve been able to accomplish so far is possible thanks to the more than two hundred individuals who have made cash contributions through GoFundMe since we first starting raising funds to restore and renovate the chapel back in March 2022. And to think that now we’ve been open for more than two years!. You can click below, or if you prefer to give directly to La Capilla Azul, Inc. through a bank transfer, please let me know. 

Photos by Guillermina Antúnez and Luis Sergio

Capilla Azul is part of Comarca Contuy, Queilen, Chiloé, Region Los Lagos, Chile