"DISAPPEARANCE cuts OPEN a wound in time"
chantal MEZA
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Mexican artist Chantal Meza tackles global disappearance in new University of Bath exhibition
We are pleased to announce that Chantal Meza's State of Disappearance collection will be exhibited at the Chancellors Building in the University of Bath from Sept 27th 2024. The launch of the exhibition coincides with the 10th anniversary of the disappeared 43 students from Ayotzinapa, Iguala, in Guerrero State, Mexico.
This exhibition marks a new chapter in the project where the artwork will be fully embedded into an educational setting and the full collection open to public display.
About the Project
The State of Disappearance project was is a collaboration between the Mexican abstract painter Chantal Meza, and Professor Brad Evans. It was inspired by the artwork of Meza who like so many in Latin America confronted the reality of the violence and sought to come to terms with its continued terror.
Producing a series of 75 works between 2017 and 2023, the artist sought to bear witness to disappearance by accounting for the history of the practice; the apparitions or ghosted memories those living with the problem encounter; the obscurity of the violence that disrupts neat categories of perpetrators/victims/witnesses; the impact on environments and the weaponisation of ecologies, the non-spaces of devastating habitation the practice further imposes; onto the sense of an inescapable psychological wounding the violence imposes.
The Full Gallery of Works:
Inaugral Exhibition
Bristol
Oct 28 - Nov 8 2023
The Inaugural State of Disappearance Art exhibition was held at CentreSpace Art Gallery in Bristol from October 27th to November 8th, 2023. Showcasing for the first time together, 75 dedicated works were presented dealing with the brutality of disappearance, and how it leaves its mark upon those who must live with the consequences.
Complimenting the exhibition, two weeks of events were featured which included a series of public lectures from internationally recognised speakers and leading authorities on different related issues from feminicide, ecology to slavery, dedicated panels exploring issues concerning memory & justice, along with student workshops and artist tours.
Humanitarian xchange
The State of Disappearance artworks were selected to be exhibited at the opening of the largest ever humanitarian gathering that took place in London 2024. They were also integral to a stream tasked with reimagining humanitarianism in the 21st Century.
Their inclusion prompted Gareth Owen, OBE and Humanitarian Director of Save the Children to observe, "Chantals work brought a devastating yet uplifting energy to the event. It showed how art must play a crucial role in the future of humanitarianism".
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