Art and Memory – the Disappeared of Argentina

DJCAD Speakers Series

During the ‘Dirty War’ of the Argentina military dictatorship (1976–1983) hundreds of secret detention centres were established across the country, where more than 30,000 people were kidnapped, tortured and killed. Paula will talk about two bodies of work that relate to this period.

‘El Matadero’ (The Slaughterhouse) which evokes her emotional trauma on being arrested and placed in an extrajudicial prison when she was 21 years old, and ‘El Lamento de los Muros’ (The Wailing of the Walls). This latter was made in 1995, when Paula returned to Argentina and used photography to explore the memories, mental scars and the crimes against her and other women.

Paula will explore these works not only in terms of the history and experiences on which they are founded, but also in terms of the long-term shifts of meaning and revelation that have evolved over the decades since they were made: the relationship between trauma and memory. Setting the ideas in further context, she will, for the first time, speak about the work in the context of the evidence she gave in the recent trials in Argentina of those accused of crimes committed at these notorious torture centres.

This event is free, no reservations.