ARTS-ARGENTINA: Mirrors Patch up Family Trees

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Viviana Alonso

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 8 1998 (IPS) - Photos of young faces from the past, incomplete family trees and mirrors that reflect the image of the observer are all part of a rather special exhibition in the Argentine capital.

The expo, which continues until Dec. 31 at the Recoleta Cultural Center (CCR) here, aims to help the children of “the disappeared” recover their identities and reunite them with their families.

“We want this show to really accomplish something, to allow the ties of blood to express themselves and for young people, in a supreme exercise, to find out who they are,” said CCR Director Teresa Anchorena.

The exhibition, called ‘Identidad’ (Identity), is the result of the work of prominent Argentine artists who responded to an appeal by the CCR and the human rights organization Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo).

The Grandmothers are still looking for hundreds of youths, the children of their own children who disappeared during the military dictatorship (1976-1983). So far, only 60 have been found.

Using photographs of the faces of the disappeared, taken when they had the same age as their children would have now, the artists designed family trees that are incomplete because hundreds of youths in Argentina do not know their real identities. These children, born in clandestine detention centres during the military dictatorship, were separated from their mothers, given false identities and handed over to other families.

The mirrors are a key part of the exhibit. The artists have placed them in such a way that when someone looks at the faces of a disappeared person his or her own face is reflected. The idea is to compare the two faces and, eventually, to recognise any likeness.

Many of the photos were recovered from documents and identification cards. They are simple photos, in black and white, faded with passage of time, but even though they are static and colorless, they have an impact on the observer.

“The children of the disappeared today are young people about 20 to 24 years old who are moving through their lives. This show is for them,” said Anchorena.

She got the idea for the exhibition months ago, while observing the large numbers of young people that attended another exhibition at the CCR. The thought came to her that some of them could well be children that the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo are still looking for.

She then contacted the president of the Grandmothers, Estela Carlotto, and together they began making the plans for ‘Identity’

The exhibition “appeals to the internal freedom of the children and the possibility of completing their identity”, said Anchorena. “They know who they are as individuals, but by knowing who their parents were, their family, their history, they will complete their identities and connect them with the truth.”

“The photos here are of their young parents who disappeared, at about their ages today, grouped into couples, forming family trees that can be completed with the live faces of their children, with whom they surely share a great likeness,” she added.

According to the CCR director, the show “is a great opportunity” for the children “to recognize themselves in the faces of their parents, to acquaint themselves with their history and to exercise their right to their identity”.

The project brings together key Argentine artists: Carlos Alonso — whose own daughter, Nora Aslan, disappeared — Mireya Baglietto, Remo Biancredi, Diana Dowek, Leon Ferrari, Rosana Fuertes, Carlos Gorriarena, Adolfo Nigro, Luis Felipe Noe, Daniel Ontiveros and Marcia Schvartz.

Anchorena praised the commitment of the artists who agreed to participate in the project, and whose different approaches culminated in the exhibition.

During meetings that were held with the artists, “who practice one of the most individualistic trades that exist”, they surprised her with their willingness to “come together in a collective project”, explained the director.