Camera Images as Cultural Heritage: The Social Life-story of the Audiovisual Records of the Palace of Justice Siege, 31 Years of Memory Work

This dissertation explores how audiovisual records are used in practices of collective memory work. For this purpose, I decided to reconstruct the social life-story of the audiovisual records of the Palace of Justice siege. This traumatic event took place in Bogotá, Colombia on the 6th and 7th of November of 1985, when a group of 35 guerrillas sieged the building. During 28 hours, the guerrillas and the army combated; in the meanwhile the radio and television stations registered and broadcasted to the whole country, however the government reacted and imposed censorship over them. Thus, after the siege, the audiovisual records have had different stages as memory tools. This research demonstrates, that these camera images have a key role in the creation and communication of memories through their inclusion in various media and audiovisual products. What is more, these audiovisual records help not only to keep alive the memories of the siege, but also they have a social function in terms of justice for they have been used as evidence in legal processes in order to find justice for the victims and the relatives. Thus, through the reconstruction of their social life-story I analysed the role of these images in the collective memory work made towards the siege of the Palace of Justice.