The art of memory activism in the global South

The article treats two forms of memory activism in the visual arts of the global South: on one hand, gallery and museum art by artists such as Kuitca from Argentina, Salcedo from Colombia, Kentridge from South Africa, Guzmán from Chile, Malani and Sundaram from India, and on the other hand, a series of short-term political-aesthetic interventions in public space such as El Siluetazo of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, María José Contreras performances in Santiago, and many of the recent interventions aiming at decolonizing the art world. The essay reevaluates the traditional distinction between aesthetic autonomy and artistic projects in the realm of political movements. It shows how this distinction has collapsed in contemporary memory art and how both trends participate in what Doris Salcedo has called acts of memory. Both kinds are needed and can work politically and socially in tandem.