Resumo

The objective of this presentation is to analyze how the Peruvian video installation Liminal (2019), by Maya Watanabe, discovers that documenting the forced disappearance is carried out, fundamentally, by the encounter of opposites. As this crime is usually made visible with strategies that, since they are normalized, do not incite a reaction in the viewer, this analysis is relevant because it points to other proposals to provoke reactions in those who see them. With an analytical process in this presentation, initially, a historical contextualization of the forced disappearance in Peru is carried out. Subsequently, it is explained what an artistic documentary that treats violence is and Liminal is introduced. Next, we analyze how this work is built from the meeting of opposites, of which three are considered: the absence of the missing person against the presence of his family member (who speaks for his absent); a body without a name (N.N.) against a name without a body (which inhabits the memory of its family); and the exhumation space confronted with the exhibition space. It is concluded that resistance against forced disappearance must continue from different fronts, such as art or theory, to try to eradicate it. Through proposals that question the normalization of forced disappearance and invite people to open their eyes, art has the power to dismantle violence and point to the humanity of those who have been disappeared, a humanity that we all share.