“Los Desparecidos”

The exposition “Los Desparecidos” featured the works of the photo journalist, Gervasio Sánchez. Sánchez took photographs to represent “the disappeared” meaning the victims of a variety of South American countries. The victims went missing due to armed conflicts and dictatorial governments. Sánchez has power in his work due to the universal pain caused by the disappeared to the family and friends of the victim.
Gervasio Sánchez has unique work because he is a photo journalist reporting on a population that cannot be photographed. To overcome this obstacle, Sánchez had to take picture of different images. His exposition included photographs of: family members holding pictures of victims, objects that belonged to the victims, and the collection of debris and bodies from a scene.

My favorite photographs were the images Sánchez provided of the family members holding pictures of victims. I thought this was very powerful imagery and I was moved the first time I saw it. The first time I came to the exhibition was before we came with class and I did not know what the pictures were representing yet, but it made me feel depressed, which was the emotion he was trying to evoke. The only thing I didn’t like about these pictures is that the photographs in the hands of the people appeared to be edited into the pictures. I don’t know if this is true, but there was an element of falseness in Sánchez’s photographs because it looked as if the people really were not holding anything when the picture was taken and he edited in the pictures of the victims.
I also really enjoyed the picture of a mother with her son’s teddy bear. One would assume the disappeared victim owned the teddy bear. The woman holds the teddy bear, seated on her lap, and stares at the camera with a look of hopelessness on her eyes. This is unique because the picture that would be more common is her hugging the teddy bear and crying or being upset. But the woman is beyond upset, she is lost. She does not understand
where her child is or what happened to him. She is mystified by the atrocity that has occurred as a result of her government.
Unfortunately for Gervasio Sánchez, the exhibition was not displayed in the best method possible. The glass was glossy with lights directly above it, which created a glare on his pictures. The captions were only in Spanish, so travelers and visitors of all languages were not able to fully enjoy or understand the exhibition. Other than minute details, the exhibition was really interesting and pleasant for visitors.