Arte e rituais de luto em contextos de violência: os trabalhos de denúncia e homenagem produzidos pelo coletivo Magdalenas por el Cauca – Colômbia

Abstract

The main aim of this dissertation is to understand the relationship between art and memory, within the context of historical systematic violence. Interviews with artists and the analysis of records of the early art works dating from 2008 to 2013, by the Colombian collective “Magdalenas por el Cueca” were done. The analysis revealed links with works of collective memory, undertaken in Colombia in recent decades. Mainly mobilized by organizations of relatives of victims with the support of civil and governmental organizations, the works of art studied here can be considered “post-conflict”. From this political and social conjuncture, it is understood that there is a set of artistic productions being undertaken in Colombia, whose focus is on working with relatives of victims as a means of highlighting scenarios of rape and suffering. The collective Magdalenas por el Cueca, in particular, proposes works of art on-site – on places marked by violent death, as a way of changing/transforming the memory of pain and suffering caused by the absence of missing beings. Their works appear as rituals, established together with mothers and relatives of victims, as a means of tribute, denouncement and mourning, to give dignity to the lives affected.