During the first decade of the 21st century, Colombia experienced a series of macabre acts involving members of the Colombian National Army, who murdered civilians and passed them off as guerrillas killed in combat within the framework of the armed conflict, with the aim of showing positive results on the part of army brigades.
During the first decade of the 21st century, Colombia experienced a series of macabre acts involving members of the Colombian National Army, who murdered civilians and passed them off as guerrillas killed in combat within the framework of the armed conflict, with the aim of showing positive results on the part of army brigades.
These events are one of many chapters of violence stemming from our internal conflict, accompanied by other situations that attach themselves parasitically and help feed the monster of violence.
The rules of a sinister game that claims more and more innocent lives become the thirst for “power” of those who are meant to protect citizens and who instead use them as stepping stones toward a range of benefits, indifferent to the death and grief of the families who end up as victims of a conflict that seems to have no end, amid the indifference of certain state institutions.
The Mothers of the Victims of False Positives of Bogotá and Soacha represent the cases of young people who disappeared after being labeled as guerrillas killed in combat between 2.002 and 2.010. This group of mothers has been working for approximately 8 years alongside relatives and other collectives that have supported the process. Their testimonies, talks, and outcries have been aimed at seeking answers about what happened.
Never Again, means standing firm, with character, resolve, grief, and pride in the face of the atrocities committed by the Government, the Military Forces, and the National Police in murdering human beings under deplorable, cowardly, and utterly unjustified conditions.
For this project, Dutch photographer Niels Van Iperen photographed the tattoos of victims’ relatives, who, in an act of denunciation, reflection, and remembrance, chose to inscribe on their own skin the victims of the false positives and their symbols.
The show will be open to the public until July 31, 2016.
Curated by
Juan David Quintero Arbeláez