Rafael Lara (1969-2024)

Rafael Eduardo Lara Monsalve was born in 1969 at the Río Bueno Hospital to Eduardo Lara Ojeda and Palmenia Monsalve Muñoz. He was the eldest of three siblings. He spent his early years in Crucero, where he began his primary education, and began to draw in early childhood. Later, due to his parents' work, the family moved to the Las Quemas sector of Osorno. In 1982, they moved to the municipality of San Pablo, where Rafael completed secondary school.

In 1992, at the age of 23, Rafael became a single father. He later worked in San Pablo as a crew leader, took a saddlery course at the Purranque School, and was part of a forestry brigade on the Rupanco ranch. He then moved to Chiloé in search of new personal and creative horizons. Despite his proficiency as a printmaker and his natural gift for teaching, as an artist Rafael Lara was entirely self-taught.