The modern history of most of Latin America began with violence a struggle to end hundreds of years of conflict with their Spanish conquerors. Faced with the emptiness that results from such violence, memory steps in to fill the void memory of lost family members, of a lost culture, or of a more idyllic past. Memory enables us to grieve, and thus gives us the will to continue. A memorial traditionally consists of a monumental sculptural work with words or images, placed in a public space. Memorials to violence have taken on new forms in the last century, as contemporary Latin American artists explore new media such as installation, video, digital, and electronic art.
Artists create personal memorials in order to deal with their own memories.
While these works are created privately, many are shown in museums and galleries for public viewing. Although memory and memorials are not limited to acts of violence, perhaps we can attribute the creative act that they inspire as one if its few positive outcomes. The medium of photography is not what it used to be in the long-gone 20th century. This enlarged field has given an incredible freedom to new artists experimenting and crossing-fields with film, digital video, and computerized techniques. Another issue here is our perception of reality and how the artist can manipulate it.