Memory Works: The Politics of Art and Memory

Tufts Hillel | Moral Voices, IGL, and Latin American Studies present Argentina’s leading photographer and one of its foremost human rights activists and conceptual artists, Marcelo Brodsky, on Memory Works: The Politics of Art and Memory.

 

The Institute for Global Leadership will present Mr. Brodsky with its Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, recognizing his moral courage in addressing the legacy of Argentina’s “Dirty War.”

 

Born in 1954, Marcelo Brodsky belongs to a generation of Argentinian artists on whose life and work the trauma of the Argentinian military dictatorship have left their mark. After returning from exile in Spain, he founded Buena Memoria, an innovative human rights organization that links the arts to survivors and victims of political genocide in Argentina with the goal of overcoming deliberate “forgetting” and creating a political culture of “Never Again.” Marcelo became a photographer during his exile in Spain after the Argentine military dictatorship “disappeared” his teenage brother.

 

Brodsky’s photographs and other artworks connect the personal with the political, intensifying the impact of both. An example is “Class Photo,” a group photograph of his 8th grade class before the dictatorship destroyed their world. Using this artistically enhanced photograph of his class at the Colegio National de Buenos Aires in 1967 as a starting point, he tells of the fates of each of his classmates by way of portraits complete with brief notes.

 

Brodksy’s images and texts have been seen around the world and acquired by leading museums – most recently the Tate in London. Marcelo has also lectured around the world, both presenting his exhibitions and in universities and museums, including Princeton, Chicago and Columbia universities in the United States.

 

For more information, dial x73242 or x73314.

 

Presented by: Latin American Studies,