Raúl Zurita
/Chile, 1950
RAÚL ZURITA studied Civil Engineering. His works include Purgatorio (1979), Anteparaíso (1982), Canto a su amor desaparecido (1985), La Vida Nueva (1994), INRI (2003) and Zurita (2011). Along with other artists, in 1979 he founded CADA, Colectivo de Acciones de Arte, an art action group dedicated to the creation of public and political art that would resist the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. In 1982 he wrote a poem in the sky over Queens, New York, and in 1992 he bulldozed “ni pena ni miedo” (“no shame no fear”) into the Desert of Atacama. Due to its dimensions, this line is only visible from the sky. Zurita has been awarded the Premio Pablo Neruda, the Premio Nacional de Literatura de Chile, the DAAD in Germany, the Casa de Américas in Cuba, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was conferred a Doctor honoris causa degree by the Universities of Alicanta, Spain, and the Universidad Santa María, Chile. He is a Professor emeritus at the Universidad Diego Portales. His works have been widely translated.