| Janet Toro | |
| Birth Date: | 24 August 1963 |
| Birth Place: | Osorno, Chile |
| Occupation: | Performance artist |
| Known For: | Addressing social injustices in Chile, anti-dictatorial work |
| Notable Works: | El cuerpo de la memoria (The body of memory), In Situ |
| Education: | Studied fine art at the Universidad de Chile |
| Years Active: | 1986–present |
Janet Toro (born in Osorno, Chile, August 24, 1963) is a performance artist based in Chile and Germany whose work has centered around an anti-establishment message and the illumination of the social injustices that resulted from the Pinochet dictatorship.[1] She is most well known for her work, El cuerpo de la memoria (The body of memory), where she performed 90 actions over 44 days at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santiago, Chile. Shortly after this, she moved to Germany in 1999, where she continued her career as a performance artist before moving back to Chile in 2014.[2]
Janet Toro studied fine art at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago and was affiliated with the artist activist group, Agrupación de Plásticos Jóvenes.[3] During the time Chile was under the military dictatorship, Toro stopped painting to pursue activist and performance art. The Chilean group, Colectivo de Acciones de Art (CADA) served as inspiration as Toro created more anti-dictatorial work. Shortly after her return to Chile in 2014, she produced the work In Situ at the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos in Santiago. This work addressed the loss of the Mapuche culture in contemporary Chile.[4] [5] [6] [7]
1986 – Dos preguntas (performance with Claudia Winther), Paseo Ahumada, Santiago
1998 – La locura (performance), Centro Experimental Perrera-Arte, Santiago
2001 – Perros peleando, Galeria Gerda Türke, Dortmund, Germany
2004 – Exposición Mácula, Bonifatius Kirche, Dortmund, Germany
2011 – Entre líneas, Galeria Kunstkontor, Cologne, Germany
Alvear, Lia. "Janet Toro: 'The Performances and the Art Transform the Society, Although It Is a Second.'" Arte al limite, October 13, 2015. https://www.arteallimite.com/en/2015/10/janet-toro-las-performances-y-el-arte-transforman-la-sociedad-aunque-sea-por-un-segundo.
Ballester Buigues, Irene. "Metáforas extremas frente al dolor y desede el feminismo". Dossiers feministes, no. 16 (2012): 11-18. "Indigenas, inmigración, deuda, y heridas inspiran performances de Janet Toro." Biobiochile, September 29, 2015. http://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/2015/09/29/indigenas-inmigracion-deuda-y-heridas-inspiran-performances-de-janet-toro.shtml.
Toro, Janet. El cuerpo de la memoira/ The body of memory / Der Körper der Erinnerung. Cologne: Janet Toro, 2012.
Tupper, Sofia. "Janet Toro Benavides, performista: 'La realidad sigue siendo urgente.'" El Mostrador, September 28, 2015. http://www.elmostrador.cl/cultura/2015/09/28/janet-toro-benavides-performista-la-realidad-sigue-siendo-urgente.