Eman Art Talk: Untitled ( Desaparecidos)

As the day soon nears when i must part with my work Untitled (desaparecidos) i feel i should share some info on them. they are two of many but they are the first two so they are special.

The work are faces of the same person. A woman missing who tried to immigrate to the United States. Her family never heard form her again and information on her disapearance doesnt exist easily on this side of the border. It was hard to find information on anyone missing who has tried to chase that American Dream we all hear about but never truly see.

But first maybe i should explain why it was important for me taht i start exploring these people and commemorate them in some way. See wether we see the issue of immigration as a political issue negatively or possitively whichever way or how, it ios a human reaction we have to the dissapearance of someone. Latino pressence has become so much a part of American identity and as a Latino American myself i feel that this issue of immigration affects me not just as a LAtino but even more so as an American. See the things is theese are people, people who died attempting to attain some sort of dream. The reaction to this isnt political, the issue is political, but we can relate to this kindof tragedy as human. For it is a thing that we can universaly understand that death is human and that this kind of tragedy is real. That this knd of tragedy can be felt and understood on both sides of such abstract border. And so forth thsi is why it is important that i commemorate these people. For they are as much a part of me as an American as tehy are as a Latino because in the end they were Human jsut like you and me.

I hope Columbia treasures these pieces greatly. I will continue making tributes in this way to those who disappear . I do have to receive information from accross the border or so because its hard to attain such information here. But also speaking of materials used. Powdered graphite creates an image but it is hard to hold it dissapaears. Resin captures what it can and freezes it making the work an attempt to capture what will be lost no matter what. A frozen glimpse of a memory.

Thanks C Spaces and Columbia for Honoring me with this recognition of this work.

Emanuel Aguilar