30,000
"Immediately after the 1976 coup in Argentina, repression spiked. The military government began to censor the press. Human rights groups began telling the world about the kidnappings, torture, and killings that were taking place. Members of these organizations were also kidnapped and disappeared. From that time on human rights militants protested by holding the pictures of their missing relatives in public demonstrations. An influential Buenos Aires newspaper, Pagina 12, would publish at the request of families—without cost—the names of people who were kidnapped, plus head shots and a short text. They continue this practice still today. In this work, which I have named 30,000 (the number of disappeared in Argentina), I used the picture of my father that my grandmother carried in the demonstrations. He was journalist who covered national and international politics. He was disappeared on December 12, 1977. As the spectator moves around the image, my father’s face appears and disappears."
– Nicolas Guagnini |
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