The islands in a museum of the continent. Coloniality and images of the Juan Fernández Archipelago

Abstract

The Juan Fernández Archipelago has been object of interest for the scientific, artistic, literary and museumlogical communities, originating from the continent epistemic programs and even cultural paradigms that form a system to think the insular geography, its temporalities and subjects. This article analyzes the images about Juan Fernández in the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Natural History of Valparaíso, as well as the engravings about these islands that are part of the museum’s collection. The insular visual narrative is inscribed in a model of representation of the materiality of insular spaces and the oceans as negative space around the continents. The insular narratives in their verb-visual relations, far from being peripheral in the processes of conformation and consolidation of nationalisms and the modern nation-state, play a significant role in the understanding of the formulation of national imaginaries.