How to Display Absence: Museographic Representations of the Disappeared in Peru

Abstract

How to give presence to a body that has been exposed to violence until it disappears? How to exhibit its absence? This paper focuses on the representation and commemoration of victims of forced disappearance in the national memorial museum of Peru: the Place of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion (LUM) in Lima. By tracing the collaborations between the museum and the relatives of the victims and by examining the practices of collecting and displaying testimonies and artifacts, I aim to unveil the power relations that take place in this museum setting, as well as the agency of the victims.