ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the role of images in making concrete claims for human rights and social justice during Guatemala’s transitional justice period. Anchored in study of photographer Daniel Hernández-Salazar’s piece, Esclarecimiento, which constituted the cover of the four-volume final report of the Recovery of Historical Memory (REMHI) project, which included statements from thousands of witnesses and survivors and predominantly blamed government forces for the brutally violent war waged largely against the rural indigenous communities in Guatemala’s highlands, a war that resulted in 150,000 deaths, 50,000 disappearances, and more than 1 million refugees; and then later was used in mass protests following Guatemalan Roman Catholic Bishop and leading human rights defender José Gerardi’s brutal murder, I investigate the role of photography to map a direct connection between the victims being dug up from the graves; those who refuse to hear, speak, or see these atrocities; and the screams of frustration and demand for address in a society where the vast majority of deaths and abuses have long gone unacknowledged. I contend that the images function as a form of visual witness to painful historical legacies, and as a public memorial for the indigenous victims whose deaths have gone largely unaddressed. Ultimately, I argue that when official transition and reconciliation processes are marked by a paucity of justice and inadequate resolution of past and ongoing human rights abuses, citizens will seek out alternative forms of mourning, memorializing, and demanding justice. Increased attentiveness to and study of these public artistic and performative memorial practices enable a clearer understanding of where official processes have fallen short and unresolved societal issues still in need of present and future address. Furthermore, I argue that this case study and others like it across Latin America highlight the urgent need for official transition and reconciliation mechanisms to incorporate diverse forms of public and artistic mourning, memorializing, and address in the public sphere.
