More than 15,000 people have visited the first exhibition by the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) at firstsite, the major new arts facility in Colchester which opened its doors in September.

Visitors to firstsite have just a few more weeks to take the chance to visit Southern Press: Prints from Brazil, Paraguay and Chile.

The selection, from the ESCALA collection, focuses on the works of thirteen printmakers, including Oswaldo Goeldi, Lívio Abramo, Antonio Henrique Amaral, Olga Blinder, Nemesio Antúnez and other key practitioners from the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

It showcases work from a period when printing enjoyed a prominent position in art education, as well as in national and international exhibition circuits, and when debates about the medium's artistic status, and the uptake of abstraction by printers, were hotly contested.

The exhibition is produced in collaboration with Meeting Margins a joint research project between Art History at Essex, and TrAIN, the Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation.

Southern Press reflects the project's focus on contact, exchange and collaboration between artists from Latin America and Europe. Further exhibitions featuring works from ESCALA will be held at firstsite in the coming months.

The University of Essex is a key partner of firstsite and supported the development of the multi-million pound new facility from the outset.