Politics and Performative Autofiction in Zonas de dolor, by Diamela Eltit

Abstract

This article uses the concept of autofiction, created by Serge Dubrovsky in the seventies, for interpreting the political implications of the performance Zonas de dolor I, by Diamela Eltit. The author participation in these performances, and the subsequent record and edition of these images in video, reveal a clear intentionality of reflecting her political thinking through these aesthetic actions, two dimensions of the art that are inseparable according to the ideas of Jacques Ranciere. In these proposals, the body is used as battlefield, and in this sense has to be understood the fact of the self-harm. It will be analyzed the use of the body as political weapon, and putting it in relation with the works The Lips of Thomas, by Marina Abramovic, and Anfaegtelse, by Angelica Liddell. In these plays, the blood emanating from the wounds of the body is constituted as a central aesthetic element. This Eltit artistic mechanism will be analyzed, for letting us to know how it is used for raising awareness and revealing us other dimension of the marginality, whether it is the case of homeless people or brothels.