People on Fire

Argentinian artist Guillermo Kuitca uses maps and charts as metaphors for locating oneself and navigating through life. In People on Fire, the connecting lines represent people (rather than towns), and their names are displayed in boxes that are color-coded by gender. The empty boxes represent people who were taken and killed by the Argentinian government during the Dirty War. The contrast between the connecting lines and the empty boxes highlights the loss suffered by many Argentinians during this period of political conflict. 

In 1976 Jorge Videla, Orlando Agosti, and Emilio Massera created the military junta that overthrew Argentinian President Isabel Eva Perón. For seven years, this group kidnapped, tortured, and killed anyone who objected to their rule. The people who were taken in the middle of the night and never returned became known as los desaparecidos (“the missing”). Approximately 30,000 people were “disappeared” by the extremist group until Argentina’s democracy was restored in 1983. The collective trauma of Argentina’s Dirty War continues in the present day for the families of those who were lost.