The photographic work of Paz Errázuriz burst onto the scene in early 1970s Chile amidst a political context dominated by the brutality of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. Her first steps were marked by a social environment full of anxiety and fragility that conditioned the lives of those who did not support the 1973 coup. Going out on the street with a camera could undoubtedly entail a risk for anyone who hoped to capture the country’s reality and might be considered a threat by part of those upholding martial law. It was even less common to see a woman undertaking an inquisitive task such as photography.

In the series Mujeres de Chile (Women of Chile) it seems as though Errázuriz had begun a search for herself, portraying groups of women who worked in different trades and whose lives were not a matter of discussion in the media or in history books: a rural teacher, a chinchorrera (coal picker), a woman diver, etcetera.