| Description: | Lined up to wash their bloodied hands, a row of uniformed generals stretches into the right edge of this arpillera. The four generals likely represent the 4 chief members of the military junta which led the coup of 1973: General Augusto Pinochet, who headed the Chilean Army before installing himself as dictator, alongside Naval Admiral José Toribio Merino, Air Force General Gustavo Leigh, and General César Mendoza of the National Police.
Facing them, a man raises hands, either pleading for mercy, or perhaps denouncing what they have done to him. Blood red tendril pull him away, metaphorically dragging him towards a disappearance. We do not see his face, and he has no distinguishing features, he is one of the many nameless victims of forced disappearance.
Above the detained-disappeared man, female relatives comfort each other in an embrace, sharing their grief and supporting for one another. An orb in the top right corner shines over them, though it’s unclear whether this is warming rays of sunlight, or the ever watchful eye of the secret police. Families of the Detained-Disappeared were heavily surveilled and often harassed by the state to discourage the families from pursuing truth about their loved ones. (HM0425) |
