The War We Have Not Seen

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST 2007

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 70 x 100 cm, Archival number: B020-0275

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 140 cm, Archival number: C010-0162

2007

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 140 cm, Archival number: C010-0161

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 105 x 150 cm, Archival number: B021-0279

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 150 x 210 cm, Archival number: C010-0330

2008

Marcos

A foretold death

Your son loves you 2009

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 175 cm, Archival number: C007-0304

A HISTORICAL MEMORY PROJECT A PROJECT BY JUAN MANUEL ECHAVARRIA

Vinyl paint on MDF, 105 x 100 cm, Archival number: B020-0345

Marta

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 140 cm, Archival number: B059-0389

THE WAR WE HAVE NOT SEEN

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 140 x 100 cm, Archival number: B020-0226

Silfredo Terror and despair due to the paramilitaries 2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 190 x 350 cm, Archival number: A052-0351

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 140 cm, Archival number: C046-0180

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 105 x 150 cm, Archival number: B030-0203

Zereida The death of my son and my husband 2007

2009

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 140 cm, Archival number: C006-008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 150 x 140 cm, Archival number: B062-0440

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 150 x 105 cm, Archival number: B014-0336

Caliche Innocent infiltrators 2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 70 x 100 cm, Archival number: A054-0314

Smithsonian Institution Affiliations Program

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum Florida International University 10975 SW 17th St. | Miami, FL 33199 t: 305.348.2890 | e: artinfo@fiu.edu w: thefrost.fiu.edu

THE WAR WE HAVE NOT SEEN JUAN MANUEL ECHAVARRIA

2009

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 105 cm, Archival number: C010-0365

The Frost Art Museum receives ongoing support from the Steven and Dorothea Green Endowment; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners; The Miami Herald; Target; and the Members & Friends of The Frost Art Museum.

This exhibition received support from Fundaci贸n Puntos de Encuentro.

Front: Archival number: C010-0330, 2008, Vinyl paint on MDF, 150 x 210 cm, Courtesy of Juan Manuel Echavarr铆a, Director of Fundaci贸n Puntos de Encuentro

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum March 7, 2012- July 1, 2012

THE WAR WE HAVE NOT SEEN A historical memory project

DIRECTORʼS FOREWORD When Juan Manuel Echavarría presented his Historical Memory Project to us at the Frost Art Museum last year, he immediately struck a chord that resonated throughout the room, among a staff of diverse backgrounds, ages, and experiences that range Archival number A054-0314, 2008, Vinyl paint on MDF, 27 1/2 x 39 1/2 inches, Courtesy of Juan Manuel Echavarría, Director of Fundación Puntos de Encuentro from first generation Americans to those old enough to remember the meaning of war and familiar with the history of violence throughout the world. This is the story of Colombiaʼs seemingly never-ending wars, but it is also the story of the many soldiers forced into or somehow attracted to war who must live with its traumas for the rest of their lives. How do you tell their story and that of the hundreds of thousands who have gone before? How do they tell their own story, laden with guilt and nightmares, and the confusion that such suffering must bring to anyone who has endured the horrors of war? When he presented the paintings, our response was amazement at the work of untrained men and women, former combatants that Echavarría brought together to reveal their experiences, confess their secrets, through Art.

The paintings included in this exhibition were created in workshops by men and women who participated in the Colombian war. They belonged to paramilitary groups, guerrilla movements or the National Army of Colombia. They were all rank soldiers, currently demobilized either under the Ley de Justicia y Paz (Justice and Peace Law), or because they deserted or were wounded in combat.

Over a period of two years, the former combatants painted their personal experiences. Witnesses to the horrors of the war, they recorded the massacres, the stories of punishment, kidnappings, rapes and drug trafficking. Their works are a painful documentation of violent episodes in Colombia, which for many years, intersected with normal everyday life.

The participantʼs lack of professional training allowed for the random use of visual codes to symbolize not only what was meant, but also, what was unwillingly said. The naiveté of the language, and the friction between form and content, made the tragedy far more apparent.

The workshops, sponsored by the Fundación Puntos de Encuentro at the request of the artist Juan Manuel Echavarría, are an attempt to alter the cultural fabric that has "normalized" the violence in Colombia, by creating an artistic project that aims to destabilize the social constructs of silence, rhetoric and indifference.

Ana Tiscornia, Curator

The paintings they created in his workshops are profound and personal pictorial documents filled with fear, poignancy, anger and hope. It is an honor to present this exhibition of works by artists who must remain anonymous, but who will live in the memory of all who share in their tragedies through imagery. It is an extraordinary project created by brave soldiers and we are grateful to Juan Manuel Echavarría and Fundacíon Puntos de Encuentro, and Curator Ana Tiscornia for allowing us to exhibit their visual testimonies and try to understand their anguish through the universal language of Art.

Carol Damian, Director The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum

Archival number C010-0162, 2007, Vinyl paint on MDF, 55 x 37 1/4 inches, Courtesy of Juan Manuel Echavarría, Director of Fundación Puntos de Encuentro

THE WAR WE HAVE NOT SEEN A historical memory project

DIRECTORʼS FOREWORD When Juan Manuel Echavarría presented his Historical Memory Project to us at the Frost Art Museum last year, he immediately struck a chord that resonated throughout the room, among a staff of diverse backgrounds, ages, and experiences that range Archival number A054-0314, 2008, Vinyl paint on MDF, 27 1/2 x 39 1/2 inches, Courtesy of Juan Manuel Echavarría, Director of Fundación Puntos de Encuentro from first generation Americans to those old enough to remember the meaning of war and familiar with the history of violence throughout the world. This is the story of Colombiaʼs seemingly never-ending wars, but it is also the story of the many soldiers forced into or somehow attracted to war who must live with its traumas for the rest of their lives. How do you tell their story and that of the hundreds of thousands who have gone before? How do they tell their own story, laden with guilt and nightmares, and the confusion that such suffering must bring to anyone who has endured the horrors of war? When he presented the paintings, our response was amazement at the work of untrained men and women, former combatants that Echavarría brought together to reveal their experiences, confess their secrets, through Art.

The paintings included in this exhibition were created in workshops by men and women who participated in the Colombian war. They belonged to paramilitary groups, guerrilla movements or the National Army of Colombia. They were all rank soldiers, currently demobilized either under the Ley de Justicia y Paz (Justice and Peace Law), or because they deserted or were wounded in combat.

Over a period of two years, the former combatants painted their personal experiences. Witnesses to the horrors of the war, they recorded the massacres, the stories of punishment, kidnappings, rapes and drug trafficking. Their works are a painful documentation of violent episodes in Colombia, which for many years, intersected with normal everyday life.

The participantʼs lack of professional training allowed for the random use of visual codes to symbolize not only what was meant, but also, what was unwillingly said. The naiveté of the language, and the friction between form and content, made the tragedy far more apparent.

The workshops, sponsored by the Fundación Puntos de Encuentro at the request of the artist Juan Manuel Echavarría, are an attempt to alter the cultural fabric that has "normalized" the violence in Colombia, by creating an artistic project that aims to destabilize the social constructs of silence, rhetoric and indifference.

Ana Tiscornia, Curator

The paintings they created in his workshops are profound and personal pictorial documents filled with fear, poignancy, anger and hope. It is an honor to present this exhibition of works by artists who must remain anonymous, but who will live in the memory of all who share in their tragedies through imagery. It is an extraordinary project created by brave soldiers and we are grateful to Juan Manuel Echavarría and Fundacíon Puntos de Encuentro, and Curator Ana Tiscornia for allowing us to exhibit their visual testimonies and try to understand their anguish through the universal language of Art.

Carol Damian, Director The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum

Archival number C010-0162, 2007, Vinyl paint on MDF, 55 x 37 1/4 inches, Courtesy of Juan Manuel Echavarría, Director of Fundación Puntos de Encuentro

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST 2007

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 70 x 100 cm, Archival number: B020-0275

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 140 cm, Archival number: C010-0162

2007

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 140 cm, Archival number: C010-0161

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 105 x 150 cm, Archival number: B021-0279

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 150 x 210 cm, Archival number: C010-0330

2008

Marcos

A foretold death

Your son loves you 2009

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 175 cm, Archival number: C007-0304

A HISTORICAL MEMORY PROJECT A PROJECT BY JUAN MANUEL ECHAVARRIA

Vinyl paint on MDF, 105 x 100 cm, Archival number: B020-0345

Marta

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 140 cm, Archival number: B059-0389

THE WAR WE HAVE NOT SEEN

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 140 x 100 cm, Archival number: B020-0226

Silfredo Terror and despair due to the paramilitaries 2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 190 x 350 cm, Archival number: A052-0351

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 140 cm, Archival number: C046-0180

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 105 x 150 cm, Archival number: B030-0203

Zereida The death of my son and my husband 2007

2009

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 140 cm, Archival number: C006-008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 150 x 140 cm, Archival number: B062-0440

2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 150 x 105 cm, Archival number: B014-0336

Caliche Innocent infiltrators 2008

Vinyl paint on MDF, 70 x 100 cm, Archival number: A054-0314

Smithsonian Institution Affiliations Program

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum Florida International University 10975 SW 17th St. | Miami, FL 33199 t: 305.348.2890 | e: artinfo@fiu.edu w: thefrost.fiu.edu

THE WAR WE HAVE NOT SEEN JUAN MANUEL ECHAVARRIA

2009

Vinyl paint on MDF, 100 x 105 cm, Archival number: C010-0365

The Frost Art Museum receives ongoing support from the Steven and Dorothea Green Endowment; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners; The Miami Herald; Target; and the Members & Friends of The Frost Art Museum.

This exhibition received support from Fundaci贸n Puntos de Encuentro.

Front: Archival number: C010-0330, 2008, Vinyl paint on MDF, 150 x 210 cm, Courtesy of Juan Manuel Echavarr铆a, Director of Fundaci贸n Puntos de Encuentro

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum March 7, 2012- July 1, 2012