Los Desaparecidos
Unfortunately my head must have been buried in the proverbial sand when the art exhibit, The Disappeared/Los Desaparecidos, came to Santa Fe. The term references the many people who were kidnapped, tortured, or murdered during the totalitarian regimes of Latin America in the late 20th century. This chapter of history was the main motivation behind my choice to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Latin American Studies — I was, and still am, enamored by the struggle of countries like Argentina and Chile. During the 1960s and 1970s, Americans were fighting for Civil Rights and “Making Love, Not War.” Meanwhile, just south of us, people were losing their freedom and basic rights in order to secure economic progress and a “free market.” In Argentina, 30,000 people “disappeared.” When General Pinochet took control in Santiago, Chile (1973) and overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, 40,000 people were imprisoned in a makeshift concentration camp at the National Stadium. Locker rooms and corridors became torture halls. Today, the stadium is still used to host concerts, soccer games, as well as a public gymnasium. In fact, when I spent a year living in Chile, I saw Shakira perform there. I was in awe with the knowledge that this contemporary place of celebration was once used during the ugly dictatorship.![](http://www.thealmostrightword.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/07barrio-600-300x150.jpg "A portrait of Nicolás Guagnini\'s \\"disappeared\\" father")
The Disappeared/Los Desaparecidos is an art exhibit traveling across North and South America. The show features 15 Latin American artists who have all personally experienced the affects of these regimes. Work ranges from photographs to installations and includes simple yet also extravagant, emotionally charged pieces. In 2007, The New York Times reviewed the exhibit:
Whatever its practical results may be, it gives an overpowering sense of the sheer statistical enormity of loss. You think you’ve reached the end; you turn a corner and find more…This all may seem long ago and far away to us, but every Thursday in Buenos Aires, groups of women continue to hold their protests demanding a full accounting of their children’s fates.
It’s true, Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo convene weekly to remember the disappeared. These countries are still fighting for retribution. Although General Pinochet was arrested and put on trial, he never received punishment for the atrocities his government inflicted on the Chilean public (Pinochet died in 2006).
This is what art should be — a way to remember, to question and challenge; a form of activism in a world where power is less and less in the hands of the people.
8 responses so far
y hay una mujer desaparecida
Great last line.
It is inspiring to hear of art that can tell people’s stories so clearly.
Wow. It sounds like a really interesting exhibit, I miss Santa Fe Galleries so much. The last line of your post made me stop and think, art does so many things, I am reticent to say art should do this or that, because even in an exhibit such as this, it is likely not everyone experiences the exhibit, or the art, in the same way. I tend to think of art as a language with many voices. Just off the top of my head Art…
Creates beauty
Enhances our environment
Reveals truth
Immortalizes
Expresses fantasy
Expresses religious beliefs
Stimulates the intellect and fires the emotions
Creates order and harmony
Expresses chaos
Records and commemorates experience
Reflects the social and cultural context
Protests injustice and raises social consciousness
Elevates the commonplace
and perhaps more than any other, meets the individual needs of the artist
Thanks for the post, it got my mind a whirling faster than a good cup of joe.
Thank you for posting this. Are there any documentaries that you can recommend?
I’d love to see this exhibit. Really.
There is a documentary simply titled, Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo. Perhaps a local library has it?
I also know the BBC has done some documentaries, such as Chile: The Other 911, but I’m not entirely sure how to get a hold of it. I’ll definitely write something on the blog if I hear of anything!
There’s also the movie La historia oficial (Official Story), which I have had to watch several times for various classes. It’s not a documentary but it does discuss some of the issues of the desaparecidos in Argentina.
[...] written in the past of Los Desaparecidos, the “subversive” citizens of Chile and Argentina (in particular) who were kidnapped, [...]