May 18th, 2025
Mapuche Expo in The Netherlands
“Mapuche, a People in Movement”: Exhibition at Leading European Museum, the Wereldmuseum in Leiden

The Wereldmuseum in Leiden, one of the most important museums of cultural history and anthropology in Europe, is hosting the exhibition “Mapuche: A People in Movement”, which combines historical photography, performance, and testimonies to narrate the Mapuche diaspora in Europe. A collaboration between curator Valeria Posada and the Folil Foundation highlights cultural resistance and forced migration from the 19th century to present days.

Translated from:
https://www.elciudadano.com/
Author: Alfredo Seguel

“Mapuche, a People in Movement”: Exhibition at one of the most important cultural history and anthropology museums in Europe – the Wereldmuseum in Leiden (The Netherlands)


Students from leiden visits the Mapuche expo. Courtesy of © Rafael Railaf Zuñiga


Courtesy of © Boudewijn Bollmann


Roots in Europe: Cyanotypes created by Folil and Wereldmuseum
A project with deep roots

The idea began when Valeria Posada Villada, the museum’s photography curator, focused on the archives of photographers Gustavo Milet, Odber Heffer, and Christian Heinrich Valck, who created a well-known photographic record of the Mapuche people in the late 19th century. “I wanted to connect these images with contemporary voices,” explains Posada Villada. She contacted academics in Chile and Argentina, and eventually the Folil Foundation, founded by the late Rafael Railaf Caniu—a Mapuche exile in the Netherlands during the dictatorship—became a key partner. His son, Rafael Railaf Zuñiga, recalls: “We proposed that the exhibition should not only look at the past, but also the present, with our archive of 25 years of work in Europe.”


Visit to the photographic archive of the Wereldmuseum Leiden. Courtesy of © Rafael Railaf Zuñiga

“The exhibition project truly began with the archive visit by the Railaf siblings from the Folil Mapuche Foundation,” says Valeria Posada Villada. “Before that, it was merely an archival investigation,” she adds. “I was interested in creating an exhibition based on that research, but it felt insufficient to present only a series of photographs without considering how they could serve the Mapuche people.”


Visit to Folil Foundation’s photography archive. Courtesy of © Rafael Railaf Zuñiga

Rafael Railaf adds: “The idea emerged when the museum wanted to talk to us about a Mapuche exhibition. We offered the idea that the photography exhibit should include not only the past, but also the present. So we invited the museum to see our archives, which include images during 25 years we’ve been working on the Mapuche topics in the Netherlands. We also had archives, photos, and materials from the 1980s, when we first arrived here… That idea led to the exhibition now running in Leiden. It will complete one year on the 20th of July,” the Folil co-founder says, referring to the closing date of the exhibition.


Visit to photographic archive at Wereldmuseum Leiden. Rafael and María of the Folil Foundation. Courtesy of © Rafael Railaf Zuñiga

The photography curator also reflects on the beginning: “This was a multi-voiced project. Through FOLIL, we invited six individuals (families) of different ages, genders, and from different European countries to participate and share their migration stories and photographs with us.”

Stories of Exile and Revitalization

The exhibition includes testimonies from six Mapuche families in Europe: Eliseo Epulef, Maucho Porma, Lafken Painemilla and Leuliñ Chávez, the sisters Elizabeth, Mónica, and Silvia Pilquil, and Rafael/María Railaf. It also features works by contemporary artists such as Paula Baeza Pailamilla (Chile) and Yazminne Pérez (Argentina).

See also / Dutch museum held a prominent exhibition on the history of the Mapuche People

“Some people couldn’t contribute photographs because they didn’t own cameras at the time or were so focused on escaping repression during the dictatorship that they avoided being photographed,” says Posada Villada. “However, through their testimonies, they helped shape the exhibition’s concept and guided us toward other useful historical sources.”

A Legacy Beyond the Exhibition

For the Wereldmuseum, this exhibition is a milestone: it is the first time that the photography collection has been explicitly linked to the struggle for Indigenous self-determination. “We aim to be a space for dialogue and reparation,” states Posada Villada.

Rafael Railaf Zuñiga highlights the educational role and the future of the Folil archive beyond the Wereldmuseum: “To continue its work on photography, we also want to bring our photos to Chile, particularly to Temuco… and hopefully involve other Mapuche photographers too. It would be wonderful to show more than just what we have in the Netherlands, because I’m sure there are also Mapuche working with photography in Chile,” says the Folil Foundation co-founder. He adds that he plans to run a photography workshop this August.


For a year, candles are burning for the Mapuche people who are killed in their struggle for land rights
Courtesy of © Boudewijn Bollmann


Courtesy of © Boudewijn Bollmann

Beyond the exhibition, the project aims to maintain long-term connections. Posada plans further research on photography and colonialism in Abya Yala (Latin America): “We are proud that our collaboration helped plant this seed. But we don’t want the exhibition to be the end of the process. We’re looking into ways to sustain the connection long-term—developing more collaborations that can take different forms, like events, talks, and articles. We’ll shape it as we go,” says Valeria Posada Villada.

Wereldmuseum Leiden: Part of the National Museum of World Cultures (Wereldmuseum in Dutch), it is one of the oldest ethnographic museums (founded in 1837). With locations in four Dutch cities (Leiden, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Nijmegen), its collection consists of approximately 700,000 photographic works and 450,000 cultural artifacts addressing global histories related to material culture, photography, design, and contemporary art. Its mission is “to inspire global citizenship, contributing to an equal and just world.”

The Folil Mapuche Foundation: Founded in 2000 by Rafael Railaf Caniu and his family, the foundation promotes Mapuche culture in Europe through exhibitions and cultural activities. Its name, Folil (“roots”), reflects its mission of preserving identity in the diaspora.

Valeria Posada Villada: Colombian curator and historian, specialized in contemporary art and Latin American photography. Her work aims to connect history and art with contemporary social struggles.