Breaking the silence – Innovative narratives raise the visibility of enforced disappearance victims | All media content | DW | 30.08.2022

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Latin America

Breaking the silence – Innovative narratives raise the visibility of enforced disappearance victims

Técnicas Rudas, with the support of DW Akademie, promotes the project Narratives and Memories of Disappearance to destigmatize the families of victims of enforced disappearance in Mexico.

  • The DW Akademie- suported photo project hangs in a busy square in front of a church.

    On the move and creating awareness

    The project “Narratives and Memories of Disappearance in Mexico”, by Técnicas Rudas and DW Akademie, travels around the country with an exhibition that presents artistic works while offering workshops and talks. These portraits show people searching using photographs of their loved ones. The victims of this kind of violence are not only the disappeared, but everyone who remains in uncertainty.

  • A woman sits on her son's bed holding a poem she has written.

    Rhymes for the missing

    María del Pilar Ramos reads her poem in the room of her disappeared son Ángel Jaret Ramos. As part of the Técnicas Rudas workshops, poet Judith Santoprieto guided and supported Ramos and seven other women to tell their stories and experiences of searching for missing family members through narratives and poetry.

  • The artists Carcará hugs the family of victims of forced disappearance.

    Drawing what cannot be said

    Empathy is what brings people together – and what is often denied to relatives of disappeared people. A group of plastic artists from different parts of Mexico created eight posters in which they tried to express what could not be expressed in words. It served as the stage background for a concert from Carcará (middle), one of the musicians who collaborate with Técnicas Rudas.

  • A member of the public looks on at a poster exhibition.

    Uniting in the face of stigmatization

    Engaging civil society is key to raising awareness and putting pressure on the authorities. For this reason, the Expo Rodante de Técnicas Rudas also organized a collective poster exhibition. It is the result of a public call that invited anyone who wanted to participate, without distinction, to generate visual materials to make forced disappearance visible.

  • Mexican rapper Mare Advertencia Lirika performs a song at the DW Akademie event.

    The search echoed through microphones

    Mare Advertencia Lirika, Mexican rapper, social activist and feminist, is part of the cast of artists collaborating with the project “Narratives and Memories of Disappearance in Mexico” by Técnicas Rudas. The artist adds to the cause with songs that address the physical and emotional impact of loss and calls for justice. "Wanted!" she says with the power of her voice.

  • Two actors perform a play on forced disappearances while holding hand puppets and drawings.

    A metaphor that helps healing

    Actors perform a theater play as part of the traveling exhibition. Written by actress and playwright Verónica Maldonado, it is a metaphor to explain to the youngest family members the absence of the disappeared: they do not leave of their own free will, nor is it known if they are still alive. To write it, Maldonado lived with the families and accompanied them on their searches for loved ones.

  • Families of victims of forced disappearances make embroidery.

    Collective embroidery: A cushion for pain

    Embroidery, a common activity for millions of women around the world, becomes a tool to make visible and denounce forced disappearances. The collective embroideries are a form of expression accessible to all people who are searching for their loved ones. They serve as a joint exercise to help cushion the pain.

  • Rosalba Rojas holds a doll she made representing her disappeared loved one.

    Representing their deepest feelings 

    Actress and textile artist Sandra Reyes enabled family members searching for their missing loved ones, like Rosalba Rojas (pictured), to channel their pain through the creation of a doll. The item represents their own image or that of the missing person, to which they can add anything, from personal objects to messages of hope and love.

  • Performance artist Lukas Avendaño and friend hold photos of their loved ones they are still searching for.

    Art to demand accountability

    Bruno, the brother of Mexican performance artist and anthropologist Lukas Avendaño (right), disappeared in 2018 and was found dead in 2020. Through artistic interventions, Lukas has denounced the inaction of the authorities and demanded from public servants an end to impunity in the face of these crimes. He also plays an important role in accompanying searching families.

  • Artists and organizers speak at a panel to discuss their work with families of disappeared persons.

    From marginalization to recognition

    These diverse artistic expressions are compiled in a book that shares its name with the project. It is a collection of new ways of narrating pain and suffering, but also hope and courage based on empathy and solidarity. The work places the victims and their families at the center, in the hopes of replacing a stigmatizing discourse with the search for justice.


  • The DW Akademie- suported photo project hangs in a busy square in front of a church.

    On the move and creating awareness

    The project “Narratives and Memories of Disappearance in Mexico”, by Técnicas Rudas and DW Akademie, travels around the country with an exhibition that presents artistic works while offering workshops and talks. These portraits show people searching using photographs of their loved ones. The victims of this kind of violence are not only the disappeared, but everyone who remains in uncertainty.

  • A woman sits on her son's bed holding a poem she has written.

    Rhymes for the missing

    María del Pilar Ramos reads her poem in the room of her disappeared son Ángel Jaret Ramos. As part of the Técnicas Rudas workshops, poet Judith Santoprieto guided and supported Ramos and seven other women to tell their stories and experiences of searching for missing family members through narratives and poetry.

  • The artists Carcará hugs the family of victims of forced disappearance.

    Drawing what cannot be said

    Empathy is what brings people together – and what is often denied to relatives of disappeared people. A group of plastic artists from different parts of Mexico created eight posters in which they tried to express what could not be expressed in words. It served as the stage background for a concert from Carcará (middle), one of the musicians who collaborate with Técnicas Rudas.

  • A member of the public looks on at a poster exhibition.

    Uniting in the face of stigmatization

    Engaging civil society is key to raising awareness and putting pressure on the authorities. For this reason, the Expo Rodante de Técnicas Rudas also organized a collective poster exhibition. It is the result of a public call that invited anyone who wanted to participate, without distinction, to generate visual materials to make forced disappearance visible.

  • Mexican rapper Mare Advertencia Lirika performs a song at the DW Akademie event.

    The search echoed through microphones

    Mare Advertencia Lirika, Mexican rapper, social activist and feminist, is part of the cast of artists collaborating with the project “Narratives and Memories of Disappearance in Mexico” by Técnicas Rudas. The artist adds to the cause with songs that address the physical and emotional impact of loss and calls for justice. "Wanted!" she says with the power of her voice.

  • Two actors perform a play on forced disappearances while holding hand puppets and drawings.

    A metaphor that helps healing

    Actors perform a theater play as part of the traveling exhibition. Written by actress and playwright Verónica Maldonado, it is a metaphor to explain to the youngest family members the absence of the disappeared: they do not leave of their own free will, nor is it known if they are still alive. To write it, Maldonado lived with the families and accompanied them on their searches for loved ones.

  • Families of victims of forced disappearances make embroidery.

    Collective embroidery: A cushion for pain

    Embroidery, a common activity for millions of women around the world, becomes a tool to make visible and denounce forced disappearances. The collective embroideries are a form of expression accessible to all people who are searching for their loved ones. They serve as a joint exercise to help cushion the pain.

  • Rosalba Rojas holds a doll she made representing her disappeared loved one.

    Representing their deepest feelings 

    Actress and textile artist Sandra Reyes enabled family members searching for their missing loved ones, like Rosalba Rojas (pictured), to channel their pain through the creation of a doll. The item represents their own image or that of the missing person, to which they can add anything, from personal objects to messages of hope and love.

  • Performance artist Lukas Avendaño and friend hold photos of their loved ones they are still searching for.

    Art to demand accountability

    Bruno, the brother of Mexican performance artist and anthropologist Lukas Avendaño (right), disappeared in 2018 and was found dead in 2020. Through artistic interventions, Lukas has denounced the inaction of the authorities and demanded from public servants an end to impunity in the face of these crimes. He also plays an important role in accompanying searching families.

  • Artists and organizers speak at a panel to discuss their work with families of disappeared persons.

    From marginalization to recognition

    These diverse artistic expressions are compiled in a book that shares its name with the project. It is a collection of new ways of narrating pain and suffering, but also hope and courage based on empathy and solidarity. The work places the victims and their families at the center, in the hopes of replacing a stigmatizing discourse with the search for justice.