Across Latin American countries military dictatorships (often with unofficial help for the U.S. government) disappeared tens of thousands of men, women and children. An exhibit, currently on view at NYC’s El Museo del Barrio, presents a multimedia remembering of the desaparecidos now through June 17.

The Disappeared (Los Desaparecidos) gathers 14 contemporary living artists from seven countries in Central and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Uruguay and Venezuela), all of whose work contends with the horrors and violence stemming from the totalitarian regimes in each of their nations during the mid- to late-20 th century. Some of the artists worked in the resistance; some had parents or siblings who were disappeared; others were forced into exile. The youngest were born into the aftermath of those dictatorships. And still others have lived in countries maimed by endless civil war. These artists whose work is represented in the exhibition are Marcelo Brodsky , Luis Camnitzer , Arturo Duclos , Juan Manuel Echavarría , Antonio Frasconi , Nicolás Guagnini , Nelson Leirner, Sara Maneiro , Cildo Meireles , Oscar Muñoz , Ivan Navarro , Luis González Palma , Ana Tiscornia and Fernando Traverso . Also included is a collaborative installation Identity/Identidad by a collective of 13 Argentinean artists.

El Museo has been one of my favorite museums for years and I happily went to El Barrio to see this exhibit with my partner who lived in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship. The exhibit inspired feelings of sadness over what happened and anger over the impunity of the crimes.

Personally the most striking pieces were Arturo Dulcos’s flag made of human bones, Oscar Munoz’s series of videos about memory and disappearances, and the Identity/Identidad installation by a collective of 13 Argentinean artists which places the viewer as a possible victim or maybe even a conspirator.

For more information on the exhibit and how to visit check out El Museo del Barrio online

Via / NYRemezcla