Gund Hall Art Installation AoR
Art Installation
Final Digital Model
Context
In Mexico, the issue of forced disappearance remains a grave and ongoing crisis, with over 120,000 individuals reported as missing, according to the National Register of Missing and Unlocated Persons (RNPDNO), a number
that approaches the total population of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Following a stark threshold of 100,000 cases, the figure rose by 7.3% in 2023 and continued to climb by an additional 6.3% in 2024. Today, the frequency of reported disappearances shows no sign of abating (IMDHD).
In response to the crisis of forced disappearance, over 230 search collectives known as "Madres Buscadoras" have formed, led by families of the missing. These collectives carry out searches in morgues and clandestine grave sites, often facing threats and violence. Despite this, the prevailing narrative assumes the missing are deceased, conflicting with the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances' Guiding Principles, which assert that searches should be conducted under the presumption that the person is alive.
Concept
The installation´s curatorial approach throughout all phases and mediumsfocuses on creating a transformative space for memory, resilience, and justice.
Through a circular circuit that represents the transformation of a bureaucratic system to the human and personal, this installation seeks to give more agency to the collectives. The experience includes a printer
connected to a platform where people can upload documents of their loved ones, primarily disappearance flyers or those related to victims of clandestine graves. The circuit is formed by a color-coded archive inside 20”x20”x20” boxes, where visitors can find Informative (3C0508), Normative (8E0A11), and Media CA0F14) documents for each of Mexico's
32 states.
An inflatable butterfly moves throughout the installation, symbolizing the work and transformation of the Madres Buscadoras. This portable butterfly will be sent to Mexico for various demonstrations and media strategies. The last pieces are projections on the boxes of video testimonies from Luz María Angulo, searching for her son Luis Eduardo Peñuelas Angulo; Hermelinda Ruíz, searching for her son Roberto
Córdoba Ruiz; and Marisol Mendez Lawer, a human rights defender.
The purpose of this installation is to raise awareness about the issue, continue building institutional alliances, and raise funds to co-create workshops and opportunities. This project is linked with a partnership to conduct a public narrative workshop with Professor Marshall Ganz, allowing collectives to use these tools to make their work even more targeted andn impactful. See More
Details
Location.
Year.
Partnership.
Professor.
Contribution.
University.
Gund Hall, Harvard GSD, Cambridge, MA.
2025.
Leading Change Networks, DRCLAS, Fundación para
la justicia, Sabuesos Guerreras, Buscandote con Amor, Madres Independientes.
Shoshan Malkit.
Research paper, Digital Platform, Communication Strategy, Archive, Video Interviews, Fundraising Campaign,Iinflatable structure, Zine and Art Installation.
Harvard University.