Memory at work : artistic resurgences of 'little histories' in Colombia ; Une mémoire à l'oeuvre : résurgences artistiques de la 'petite histoire' en Colombie

This research explores the multiple possible significations of catastrophes that shook Colombia in the l 980's and the l 990's, and the role of the "artist historians" in the process of healing the wounds it left behind. Traces of these tragedies will be followed up by means of autobiographical elements in order to bridge the gap between individual memories and Colombia's History. The starting point for this enquiry is my persona! artistic work and the work of other Colombian artists, most of them born in the 1960's and having produced fundamental artworks elaborating on the process of remembering. The word "disappearances" in the specific Colombian context steers its way amongst the chapters of recent History and reappears in cyclical fashion as the phenomenon of "forced disappearances", which can be followed up though the periods of violence in Colombia since La Violencia "the period of Violence" in the l 950's. The word "disappearance" will reappear when contemplating events like the fate of the "stolen children'' during the Armero catastrophe, caused by the eruption of a volcano, or the mysterious disappearance of eleven persons during the military takeover of the Palace of Justice in Bogota (both happened in November 1985), or the thousands of anonymous "disappeared", many of which were carried off by the rivers, leaving the Colombian society in the impossibility to bury it's dead in order to start a process of grieving and armistice. Finally the word "disappearance" will echo the "disappearance of evidences" and the "leaking archives" perpetrated with impunity by Colombian officials, thereby intentionally inhibiting the reconstruction of collective memory. ; Cette recherche explore les significations multiples des catastrophes qui ont bouleversé la Colombie dans les années 1980 et 1990, et le rôle des «artistes-historiens» dans la réparation des blessures qu'elles ont entraînées. Nous retracerons ces événements à partir des éléments autobiographiques afin de construire des liens entre la mémoire ...