Worlds are disappearing before our eyes. Humans continue to be abducted and forcibly removed from their societies, while others simply vanish from the surface of the earth as they flee the ravages of conflict and violence. Cultures are being decimated and languages lost as ancestral knowledge and indigenous ways of life have been crushed under the weight of historical progress. Forests are being scorched and rivers running dry as consumption patterns lead to the devouring of ecologies and liveable habitats. Across the world, authoritarian regimes are emboldened, leading to the disappearance of journalists and students which points to a wider problem of the disappearance of truth. This is happening at a time when the humanitarian dream to create a world free from conflict and violence is crumbling, shadowed it seems by a vacuum of ideas concerning humanity’s future. 

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How are we to confront this violence? What is the purpose of art when responding to these tragedies which are marked by a devastating absence? Can we even picture such a tremendous loss? Do we need to develop new ways of seeing and feeling the beauty and pain of the world? And how can we develop better conversations between those most deeply affected and artists and cultural producers, policy makers, and academics, so that the thresholds between appearance and disappearance can be better understood?

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Held throughout June 2025, the Disappearance of Worlds exhibition showcased the work of Mexican painter Chantal Meza, whose work for the past decade has confronted the violence, terror, and the complexities of disappearance in both a human and ecological context. Complementing the exhibition was a series of public talks from searching family members from Mexico, in the company of Humanitarian leaders and world-leading authorities exploring the multiple ways disappearance occurs and the possibilities for response. 

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