Paz Errázuriz Chilean, b. 1944

As Chilean art critic Catalina Mena describes:

Many were the journeys Paz Errázuriz made to Patagonia. The first time, it was to seek out Fresia Alessandri, an old woman who had managed to resist the ravages of cold and solitude and who seems to have been the last repository of the Alacaluf cultural memory.

After travelling through turbulent seas beneath terrifying skies, she finally found the old woman sitting atop the haunches of a horse in the middle of a forest. The photographer spoke to Alessandri of her project, but the old woman could not have cared less about the thousands of kilometres Paz had travelled to arrive at this moment. “No photo”, was her response. Errazuriz did not insist; she returned several times over the following three years. They smoked cigarettes together and talked about a little of everything, until finally Paz gained her elusive trust.