Los desaparecidos (The Disappeared)

Manuel Chavajay (b. 1982) is a contemporary artist of Maya Tz'utujil descent, one of about 25 indigenous groups currently living in Guatemala. Chavajay's work is framed within a decolonial critique and the vindication and construction of a contemporary Maya culture, using his artistic production as a means of healing the traumas that modernity has brought to his territory and its people. In addition, Chavajay's work is strongly influenced by his own experience with violence and the armed conflict in his country, his father being tortured and his brother brutally murdered. In "Los desaparecidos," the artist shows us a cayuco, the traditional Atitlán Lake boat floating alone on the verge of sinking. The reflection in the water, however, shows diffuse silhouettes that suggest the presence of passengers who are no longer there and are nothing more than memories. This represents the progressive disappearance of the ancestral practices of the land of Chavajay, where the mining industry, aggressive agricultural practices, and armed conflict have destroyed centuries of peaceful cohabitation and respect for nature.