Comics and the slaughterhouse: Alberto Breccia and the neighbourhood of Mataderos

In this article, I explore the way that Alberto Breccia, one of Latin America’s most important comics artists, engages with the history and cityscape of the neighbourhood of Mataderos in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I focus on two of his comics set in this meat-packing district: the series Un tal Daneri (1974–77), written by Carlos Trillo, and the short-story ‘El aire’ (1976), written by Guillermo Saccomanno. Created during a period of increasing political violence, I analyse how these works express the material practice of animal slaughter as well as the slaughterhouse’s potent political symbolism. In particular I argue that the highly material, embodied techniques that Breccia uses, including cuts with blades, paper tears and collage, present Mataderos as an assemblage where human, animal and non-human fuse together. They also remind us of the material labour processes that underpin both these images and the neighbourhood itself. As a result, I suggest, these works both suggest an alternative to the dichotomy of civilization and barbarism that has dominated the Argentine political and urban imaginary, and also demonstrate how artistic practice can be used to embody the materiality of marginal bodies and spaces.