“Desaparecen?” is an unusually poignant and moving art work that does not fall short. Created by Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, one of Mexico’s best known and influential photographers, Desaparecen? is a piercing work of photographs and poetic words beautifully collaged to implant in our memory a horrific event: the mysterious loss of 43 poor activist students traveling by bus (which they commandeered) to Mexico City to commemorate the anniversary of the 1968 Tlateloco Massacre. The details of their disappearance and probable massacre by authorities of Guerrero state have never come to light. The number “43” is recorded on every image of this work so we will never forget that number and remember also: the names of the students, “Donde quedaron”, “Justicia”, photographs of skeletal masks, photos of the students, “Donde Estan”, “vivas los queremos”, religious references.
