How is it Remembered?

There is no possible symbolism for the disappearance of persons. They were taken without a trace, leaving an open wound in their family members and making it difficult to mourn. The sinister nature of the disappearance and the traces of uncertainty and fear that it left in society, however, resulted in many expressions of these experiences in the fields of literature, film, and the visual arts or theater.

Tributes have a twofold purpose: to recall the identity of the disappeared and/or murdered persons and to generate social awareness that is essential to reinforce the value placed on life and justice.

To communicate the knowledge and experience of the dictatorial past is an urgent and necessary task. Memoria Abierta attempts to contribute to this process of building social memory in order to set up new connections with the recent past. The presence of multiple memories can be the basis for an entirely different political culture.
In the following, we describe two initiatives undertaken by Memoria Abierta that combine awareness and tribute:

images for memory
Memoria Abierta produced the exhibit images for memory on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the coup d`etat of 1976. It intends to present to a wide audience a collection of images, documents and voices that reflect the events of the last three decades.

images for memory contains photographs, fragments of audiovisual testimony, newspaper graphics, and documents relating what happened during the years of the last military dictatorship.

In addition, the exhibit includes a collection of 300 letters collected to display various situations that occurred during the military dictatorship through the eyes of the individuals who participated in them. There are reports, requests for information, official responses that reveal the bureaucracy of State terror, accounts of daily life, and letters from exile, prison and clandestine detention, which give a personal dimension to those experiences and offer a new window onto that period.

Paseo de los Derechos Humanos [Human Rights Walk]
In order to create a space for memory and reflection, in 1991, the Fundación Memoria Histórica y Social Argentina (Argentine Historical and Social Memory Foundation) proposed the creation of a grove to commemorate the victims of State terrorism.

The design of the Paseo is the result of consensus among neighbors: 20 groves with different types of trees honor 20 groups of disappeared citizens during the last Argentine military dictatorship.

The Paseo de los Derechos Humanos is made up of groves, a plaza for reflection and paths that connect each area. It is a space for the community; a space in honor of those 30,000 detained and disappeared.

The Paseo de los Derechos Humanos (located in the Indoamericano Park) was developed by the Fundación Memoria Histórica y Social Argentina, Memoria Abierta and the Ministry of Environment of the City of Buenos Aires.

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How is it Remembered?