Drawing the Disappeared
Over one hundred thousand people are reported disappeared in Mexico as of September 2024. UNHR has been partnering with families, colectivos, and other organizations to reconstruct the stories of the disappeared, in an attempt to uncover truth and gain accountability.
As part of this project, Human Rights through Arts Coordinator Mica Borovinsky participated in interviews with family members while simultaneously creating digital illustrations. These pieces were given to the families after their completion. Based on interviewees’ photographs, memories, and persistent hopes, the illustrations depict scenes of life had their loved ones not been disappeared.
Often, human rights documentation can feel extractive, something the University Network team always actively resists. Creating art is one medium by which the brave, difficult process of sharing a story can be immediately generative for survivors and witnesses of human rights abuses.
Antonio Orgen Calderon's teaching to his daughter, Irma, is that "we are always learning." Her missing father would be proud to know that Irma is now pursuing a degree in law to further advocate for human rights.
Karina Arce Flores (sister of Alberto, who disappeared 11 years ago in Guerrero), said of her brother,
“No one imagines looking for a loved one in a hill, in clandestine graves, or in the SEMEFO. Digging, looking for bones, is something I would never have imagined in my life.”
"I think they didn't expect us women to find the strength. They see us as weak, as if we couldn't do anything. When a woman is in so much pain, she finds the strength from I don't know where and does everything she has to do."
Maria Salvadora remembers her husband, Mauricio Aguilar Leroux, as very caring. “Mauricio helped everyone, even if he didn't know them.”
This year, Renata Janeth should turn 15 years old.
If she hadn’t been disappeared, the whole family would be organizing her quinceañera party. Illustration of Alma Preciado and Ilse Janeth, Renata's grandmother and mother, respectively, with Renata as she may have appeared at her 15th birthday party.
“The disappearance of Teodulfo is a puzzle that you never manage to complete.”
Teodulfo Torres Soriano, or “El Tio," was an activist, passionate about street theater, and a sensitive, creative, and kind person.
“It’s harder to do nothing and just wait, arms crossed, for them to come back by themselves," said Leslie Castillo, whose father and brother were disappeared.
She continued, "If we don’t make them come back, if we don’t search for them, they won’t come back. We are their voice, we are their face." Leslie’s father used to play the guitar while her brother would sing, filling the house with their music.
