Summary
A Chilean sculptor whose parents came from Nerežišća. Brač preserves her legacy through a donated work and programmes connecting her family’s island homeland with Chile.
In 2014, Nerežišća connected by video link with Santiago in a programme marking the centenary of her birth.
Brač roots in Chile
Lily Garafulić was born in Antofagasta. Her father, Petar Garafulić, and mother, Margarita Janković, came from Nerežišća and emigrated to Chile in the early 20th century. Her connection with Brač is therefore familial and cultural; her birthplace remains in Chile.
Sculpture and museums
She was one of Chile’s most important sculptors and director of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago. In 1989, she donated a stone portrait of a woman to the gallery named after Branislav Dešković in Bol. This is a concrete material connection between her work and the island.
An encounter between two continents
On 14 May 2014, a programme marking the centenary of her birth was held in Nerežišća. A documentary film and a video link with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago brought together family members, museum professionals and artists from Brač. The programme showed how an emigrant connection can remain alive through artworks, conversation and shared memory.
Sources: [1]
