Photography as a Platform for Transitional Justice: Peru’s Case

• In Event: Visual Epistemologies and Human Rights

Abstract

The Peruvian photographic exhibition Yuyanapaq: Para Recordar (To Remember) was one of the first post-conflict public and official efforts in Peru to start a process of public dialogue and collective remembrance of the internal armed conflict that took place in the country between 1980 and 2000. This exhibition was produced between 2002 and 2003 within a transitional justice framework with the sponsorship of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR). The Commission also published a photography book of the exhibition. In this paper, I analyze the production of Yuyanapaq as a post-conflict artifact and as a platform that triggers or guides remembering rather than a memory in itself. Specifically, I am probing how this memory work has given way to new discourses, forms, and practices for facilitating collective remembrance of Peru’s internal conflict. To do so, I first provide a brief historical overview of the context in which photojournalism and the press operated during the conflict years. Then I analyze the role of the CVR in transforming the news photographs into tools for transitional justice, fostering a public dialogue through a visual narrative. And third, I discuss the circulation of these photographs in art galleries and on social media platforms where they have been used to present alternative discourses to that of Yuyanapaq. In doing so, I show that the interplay between historical, cultural, political and economic forces shapes the value of photography as a platform for transitional justice and collective remembrance.

Author

• Gabriela Martinez, U of Oregon