This exhibition examines artistic responses to violence instigated by state regimes across the Americas to disclose censored narratives, argue for the importance of artmaking as an act of memory and witnessing, advocate research, and seek justice.

Through the lens of contemporary art, Necroarchivos, “the archival study of the spaces between life and death and their interconnections” investigates diverse responses to the “disappeared” from the Americas. From the 1960s to the ‘90s in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, El Salvador, Uruguay, and Nicaragua, intellectuals, artists, and activists were kidnapped, tortured, exiled, and in numerous instances murdered, for demanding human rights and opposing dictatorial regimes and censorship. More recently, from the late ‘90s to today, people in the region have been victims of ongoing failed policies such as the War on Drugs, narco-violence, the continued presence of dictators, feminicide, and a brutal state and border apparatus.

Conceptualized as “Necroarchivos” by Dr. Adriana Miramontes Olivas, these artworks examine, archive, and denounce these issues and the continued disappearance of women and other individuals while addressing both art historical concerns and trends to challenge the definition of art and its impact upon society.