The Blood is Money is a critique that invites us to reflect on the one hand about the logic of power, money, abuse, and the excessive and irresponsible use of the image of Indigenous and Aboriginal people from various territories, who have been systematically mistreated throughout history. History: and on the other hand, to the failed attempts at reconciliation by oppressive states concerning the original peoples around the world, which have been nothing more than mere offensive approaches that continue to deny the violence that has been exercised for decades against the First Nations.
The artist seeks to make the use of the image of the Aboriginal visible in an object of economic exchange that has positioned itself as a key element of power in modern societies, showing in some way an irony the fact of using the image of those who have been victims of abuse at various levels, even to the point of not being considered human for long periods and not only in past times, as is thought of conquest and colonisation, but relatively recent and contemporary.
In this case, the aboriginal, as opposed to power, is articulated as the main image in the daily exchange in the hands of residents throughout the globe; however, how much are we aware of that image that we carry without remorse in our pockets? It is what the artist seeks to use with the invitation to choose a political position regarding the true stories that precede us and constitute us. Through this visual criticism, conversations, connections, and concerns are built regarding reconciliation, recognition and memory processes, creating together, with the first nations, spaces of resignification and reconstruction of multicultural environments that visualise, respect and defend the diversities with which we cohabit.
Miguel Villanueva (Andy), a Chilean visual artist based in Australia since 2018, has spent the last sixteen years developing printmaking techniques, mainly those made in wood and linoleum on paper and textiles. Since the beginning of his career, Miguel has participated in different creative projects, standing out for his critical thinking on political and social issues, and reflecting on topics such as poverty, folklore, and indigenous culture, among others.
The artist has published five books, all of them based on his outstanding engraving technique, through which he intends to maintain the current discipline as a graphic record over the years. Andy has participated in different collective exhibitions in Chile, Perú and Australia, and in recent years he has had two individual exhibitions in Melbourne, Australia, the first in 2018 called "En Tránsito" and the second called "Human Vices" in 2019, both at SOMA GALLERY on Sydney Rd, Brunswick.
