Prohibido olvidar

The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bogotá begins its 2016 calendar with the exhibition Prohibido olvidar ("Forgetting is Prohibited"), which can be visited between February 6th and March 3rd. Curated by Juan David Quintero, Prohibido olvidar features the work of seven renowned Latin American artists who have produced works based on their investigation of the subject of violence (armed conflict, drug trafficking, natural resource depletion, and inequality, among others) as it has been experienced for centuries in such Latin American countries as Mexico, Chile, and Colombia. Through the work of Fernando Pertuz (Colombia), Edinson Quiñones (Colombia), Luz María Sánchez (Mexico), Catalina Mena (Chile), Francisco Peró (Chile), Chócolo (Colombia), and Fernando Arias (Colombia), the MAC invites audiences to reflect about conflict in Latin America and to interact cathartically with the exhibits by telling their own stories in drawings and/or pieces of writing. The art featured in Prohibido olvidar makes reference to different kinds of violence. Catalina Mena explores domestic violence in Trilogía ("Trilogy"), made with used, embroidered kitchen knives. Humanos Derechos ("Right Humans"), by Fernando Arias, presents us with aspects of the human rights violations suffered by communities in the Colombian departments of El Chocó and El Cauca at the hands of guerrillas, paramilitary irregulars, and other agents in the country's internal armed conflict; Arias' characters are undressed in the work of art with the goal of freeing them from their weapons and camouflage uniforms and having them appear as what they really are: human beings. Luz María Sánchez's V.F(I)N de Luz María Sánchez depicts the violence experienced in Mexico as a consequence of the war between the drug cartels and the police, with firearms reproducing the sound of shootouts recorded by citizens who witnessed the events. In Niños de chocolate ("Chocolate Children"), Fernando Pertuz presents a series of chocolate-based silk screens of children who work in the growing and harvesting of cacao for the benefit of multinational monopolies exploiting the region's resources. Also in view are works like those by Chócolo, infused with a touch of dark humor in reference to the everyday conflicts experienced by many Colombians. In the words of Juan David Quintero, "Prohibido olvidar is an invitation to awareness, to keep our history alive and current, to avoid the same mistakes of the past, to find the equality our societies have lost, and, most importantly, to fight for dignity and the right to live in freedom."