Project by Juan Manuel Echavarría

The exhibition of the project by Juan Manuel Echavarría entitled The War We Have Not Seen: A Historical Memory Project will be presented until July 1 of this year at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum of the Florida International University (FIU). Curated by Ana Tiscornia and sponsored by the Fundación Puntos de Encuentro, the exhibition will include 17 paintings by the Colombian artist. The goal of the show is to offer a survey of the history of violence in Colombia. But how is it possible to outline a history that intends to include the stories of hundreds of thousands of victims though art? To Echavarría, the answer was to offer the project to those people who have actually been in contact with this history.

The works exhibited were created in a workshop by men and women who were connected either with paramilitary troops, guerrilla groups, or with the National Army of Colombia; in other words, all the creators in the exhibition are either soldiers, members of dismantled groups—under the enacted Peace and Justices Law—or persons who were injured and/or abandoned in the combat zones. For a period of two years, and without any artistic training, these individuals painted their experiences during the armed conflict that shook Colombia. Although they do not reveal their identities, these authors present an exhibition that exorcises remnants of wartime memories through painting.

More than a historical survey of the development of violence, The War We Have Not Seen: A Historical Memory Project sheds light on those social conflicts that, due to their lasting and oppressive presence, have been stabilized; theirs is an attempt to promote a strong social fabric, generate new conscience… and to fight against the prevailing silence and indifference that exists in connection to this subject.