David Arturo Espinoza Zamudio is a student in the undergraduate program in Anthropology, School of Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Assistant of the research-creation project “Donde el cielo y la Tierra se juntan” (Where the sky and the earth meet).

EncArtes multimedia

Where two souls heal, a photographic essay on the animita as an artifact of healing in the Chilean everyday life

  • David Arturo Espinoza Zamudio
  • Lili Almási-Szabó
  • Pedro Pablo Medina Andrade

This photographic essay explores the phenomenon of animitas in Chile, small popular altars erected for the souls of tragically deceased persons. Over time, these have begun to occupy a role that goes beyond the commemorative. Not only are they visited by the loved ones of the deceased, but also by neighbors and other practitioners of popular religiosity, giving them a relevant place in the healing of body and spirit. Based on an ethnographic process of research-creation, the project proposes to understand the animitas as nodes of multidirectional healing, as they provide support to bereaved family members, symbolic care to the soul of the deceased, a space of rest and mediation for the community, as well as a resignification of the place of the accident. Through images and testimonies, the essay shows how the animitas become places of faith and collective care.