A museum in Santiago, Chile uses art to explore its painful past and the possibility of a brighter future.
When I arrived in Chile, I knew little of the terrible and painful past that the nation had recently gone through. I knew that Chile isn’t exactly considered a first world country, and I had partly chosen to study abroad in Santiago for the experience of living outside of the societal and technological norms that come with a well-developed country.
One of the first trips that our class did was to El Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, or The Museum of Memory and Human Rights. This museum focuses on remembering Chile’s painful past under the rule of Augusto Pinochet from 1973 to 1990. A far-right dictator, over 3,000 men, women, and children “disappeared” during this time period in the government’s attempt to stifle populist and communist uprisings. Over 2,000 have been officially reported as deaths, but there are still over 1,000 Chileans who are still declared “missing.” Family and friends of the disappeared are chief supports of rallies, media awareness, and museums that keep the memory of los desaparecidos alive.
El Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos did an incredible job of using art of all medias to help convey both the hurt and suffering that Chile experienced during this time period as well as how the nation can avoid this terrible situation in the future and move forwards towards healing. I would love to share some of the most poignant art exhibits I encountered while I visited the museum.
This is the exhibit you first see when walking to the museum. Located outside, it is called Imágenes Internacionales por los Derechos del Hombre y del Ciudadano, or International Images for Human and Citizen Rights. There are 66 posters which represent different aspects of the right of man as a human and as a citizen. More than actually reading and analyzing every poster, what really captured my attention about the exhibit was the overall visual aspect. Stepping back and seeing the shadows that each poster cast in combination with the shadows of the angular red walls surrounding the museum was a refreshing break from the low income area of Santiago that surrounded it. I’m hoping that the plaza-like and welcoming atmosphere recreated by these posters helps to attract Chileans to the museum who otherwise might not have stopped by.
The largest exhibit inside of the museum was the most powerful one for me. A huge wall, three stories high, had been covered with photos of the over 3,000 missing Chileans. I stood on the first floor and looked up; I stood on the second floor and looked straight ahead; I stood on the third floor and looked down. The beautifully sad thing about this wall was that it put the number 3,000 into perspective. I mean, I knew that 3,000 was a large number, but then trying to take in every face I saw in a frame was a completely overwhelming task. Our class sat and took in this exhibit for a long while, and I knew that the art in this museum had really shown us how different Chilean history is from United States history. Neither Chile nor the United States studies much about this dictatorship time period, even though it was so recent and is so important in the history of Latin America. I applaud El Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos for keeping the memory of these strong individuals alive in a sensitive and respectful way through art.
El Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos and these pictures of the art exhibits really made me stop and think about how important and fragile human rights are. If you are interested in more information about the museum or los desaparecidos de Chile, please visithttp://www.museodelamemoria.cl/el-museo/
