Analyse Marcelo Brodskys Work Buena Memoria From the Perspective of Memory Work - Essay Example

MARCELO BRODSKYS WORK By and Introduction The horrific ordeal referred to as the Argentine dirty war, began with a military coup in 1976. This was followed by seven years of institutionalized terror meted on citizens. It is estimated that at least 9,000 civilians were killed by 1983, when Argentina finally rose back to democracy. Many people who witnessed the horrific scenes still remember with horror, the untold suffering among civilians, mainly characterized by abductions and extrajudicial executions. One way of ensuring that such scenes do not occur again is ensure that the memories are engraved in the society, as a way of resistance. How best could this be done than creating a collective memory that will pass on to generations? Marcelo Brodsky chooses to do this using art as a tool. This is an analysis of his art work and the effect it has in passing his personal experiences to generations after him, thus, preventing future occurrences of similar experiences. Discussion General Jorge Fafael Videla, who was a senior commander in the army plotted and executed a coup in Argentina in 1976. This occurred after the death of President Juan Peron, and, after his widow Isabel, took over the leadership as the president. A military Junta was formed, made up of the military generals, and two days later, Videla became the president. What followed was a dictatorial, military rule that saw many people assassinated, and many others disappearing. Many civilians were reported to disappear while in military or police custody. Many others faced arbitrary arrests and torture. Videla presided over major human rights abuses and major crimes against humanity. Argentina was not new to unrest by this time. A previous coup had been staged in 1930 by the armed forces, lead by general Uriburu. Civil rule was however restored in 1932 (Cadava, et al, 2013). With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Argentina confessed its neutrality, which did not go down well with some countries In 1943, military regimes again seized power and cut all diplomatic ties with Japan and Germany. Among the military leaders involved in the coup was Colonel Juan Peron, who took over as the president. In 1946, he was elected the president, and changed the constitution to favour a powerful presidency. His supporters even amended registration to spell strict punishments for anyone seen to be opposing the government. This led to imprisonment of opponents, and suppression of any independent newspapers. In 1951, Juan was re-erected with a huge majority, but by 1952, his support started to wane (Broadsky, 2003). In June 1955 an attempted coup by the navy was crushed by army, who were still loyal to him. This was however, a short-lived relief, because in September the same year, a combined operation by the three arms of the military overthrew Juan’s administration. After intense fighting Juan resigned and went into exile in Paraguay, and later Spain. The new regime returned the federal constitution but another coup in 1966 lead by Juan Ongania returned military rule. In 1973, the Peronian party won the elections and Hector Campora became the president. Later, after some time, Juan Peron returned to Buenos Aires. Argentina became a target of several terrorists’ attacks and President Campora resigned, giving power back to Juan Peron in September, 1973. In 1974, Juan died while in office and his third wife Isabel replaced him. Her tenure was characterized by increased terrorism attacks and high inflation. This is when General Jorge Videla seized power in another coup (Foster, 2014). Marcelo Brodsky, an Argentine who was both a human rights activist, and an artist, and who was residing in Argentina by this time, went into exile in Barcelona. It is while there that he took keen interest and learnt photography. He returned to Argentina in 1984, after the fall of the dictatorial leadership. The memories of the atrocities meted on his people were still fresh in him. In 1996, Brodsky thought of creating a memory bridge between his own memories and the future generations (Battiti, 2010). This was in an attempt to convert his personal memories into collective memories that can be shared and passed over generations. It is then that he teamed up with others to develop the Buena Memoria (good memory), which is a collection of soul moving artistic photographs, depicting the suffering experienced. It is still curious why he decided to call his work good memories, yet, it was a reminder of a horrific past which he must have remembered with a great sense of loss and sorrow, having lost his own brother and a close friend. A classical example of his work is a photograph of his 1967 eighth grade class at the National High School of Buenos Aires. He found this photo after coming back from exile and he sought to establish their whereabouts and what could have befallen his colleagues during the anarchy. The students in the photograph would have graduated in 1972, but many of them engaged in political or social activism activities. He learnt that some of them had been captured by the regime and were in incarceration, while others including his best friend Martin, and his own brother, mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again. He tried to reconstruct the history of each of them over the period of almost thirty years. He enlarged the photo on a large, white portrait and inscribed the brief history of each student. In 1996, the Argentine Historical and Social Memory Foundation organized a “memory bridge ceremony” exhibiting Brodsky’s photograph. In total, 98 ex-students were noted to have been either murdered by the military junta, or disappeared. Their names were read out in a symbolic roll call, where they were marked “present.” This was seen to bring their memories from the confines of history (Cameron 1995). It is assumed that Brodsky was looking forward to a happy reunion with his high school mates. High school graduation is regarded with a lot of nostalgia, as it makes the first step towards development of a career. This draws the irony of why Brodsky chose to name his work “good memories.” Having been in a prestigious school in Buenos Aires, it must have been expected that their future was blight. For the disappeared students however, this remained a wishful thinking. Brodsky carefully inscribed the whereabouts of everyone in the picture, while also trying to reunite with those who were still living. He must have imagined their prospects in life, had the dirty war never broke out. Brodsky also exhibited other photographs of his former school mates, some of whom had been killed. He compared the scenes before the coup in their school days, and after the Junta rule. According to Cameron, H., 1995, this clearly brought out the reality that the cruel military rule had brutally erased people from living. It also serves to restore the killed people from the oblivion of death. This brings up the question, “how powerful is art in creating and retaining memories?” Brodsky is not the only artist who embraces the past as a way of creating a lasting reminder. Gustavo Germano, Carlos Alonso, Leon Ferrari, and others, joined with similar works. They also exhibited photos from the past, and compared them with their current status. All this created a rich memory from the past, and tried to connect it to the future. It created a good artistic memory bridge, to last many generations, and possibly create a culture of resistance. Brodsky generously helps u s to explore the big role that art can play in eliciting and keeping memories of past events. His own personal memories have been used to create a lasting impression on current and future generations, who may not even have witnessed the violent era. He uses his experience of missing and killed colleagues to demonstrate how the violence “uprooted” them from life. In the post-dictatorship Argentina, such photographs have remained a constant remainder of where they have been and why they should be more resolved to ensure that they never get there. The photos of the dead and missing also stand in defiance of the intended wipe out of civilians (Julia, R., 2011). This gives a sense of resolve to move on as a society. Those future generations coming across the photography work will always seek to know the genesis, and the history behind. What comes out clearly from Brodsky’s work is how his personal memory translates into collective memory. By use of songs, photographs, drawings, and, movies, artists have been able to make lasting impressions of their own experiences. This creates a cultural history, which does not change, even with time. Collective memory has the capacity of creating cultural identity and preserves knowledge, identity, and, unity in a society. This creates a sharp difference between those who belongs to that society, and those who do not. This is evident in the manner in which Brodsky’s work has created identity and unity among Argentines, in resisting any future slip to anarchy. Collective memory also serves to help reconstruct the failures in a society, and therefore, form a cultural heritage, by bridging oblivion and remembrance. This, in the case of Brodsky’s artistic work, helps create a rich heritage that would be hard to forget, even in generations to come. Many other societies all over the world are proud of rich cultures in their own way. An example is Germany after the holocaust, where Jews were targeted and murdered by the Nazis. This shows that memories, whether good or bad play a role in moulding the future. The greatest challenge is how to pass these memories and past experiences on, without losing the meaning and focus, while at the same time, maintaining the emotions that define the memories. Art has a unique way of making people experience, even if briefly, the previous experiences and views, while driving them to places they have never been, and, places they may never otherwise experience. It has the capacity to speak of the past, present and even the future. It is this aspect that helps form the cultural values of the people. Brodsky’s work speaks of the past to all generations. This helps those who never experienced the bloody scenes to have a taste of what it felt and how devastating the situation must have been. It talks to everyone about the effects of unrest while at the same time galvanizes them to remain a united nation for the sake of peace. Brodsky’s perspective of how he lost friends and even a brother speaks volumes of the greater loss that was experienced. This is likely to deter any thought of future coups. It does not mean that photography is the only effective way of culture preservation. Paintings depicting past events, even those that were never witnessed by the artists, have been used effectively. Songs have also played a major role in culture preservation. Narratives, poems, and, plays have all been used to drive the point home. As witnessed in the history of Argentina, bloody coups have not lately been witnessed. This means that people seem to have learnt from the past mistakes, and would not be willing to walk down that destructive path again. This further strengthens the thought that art can be used effectively to change a people’s perspective by memories that become part of their culture. It is this culture that has held Argentina together, despite endless political and financial challenges that have continued to fall on the country. Through Brodsky’s artistic work, it is as if the whole country witnessed, and felt the effect of the coup, and the bloodletting thereafter. Personal memories of Brodsky about the loss of his own brother and friends to the bloody rule have continued to change the whole country, and still will, for generations to come (International State Crime Initiative). He has effectively transformed his living memory to a post memory shared by all his fans, and the world at large. It must have lived to his title of good memories, since the results of his work stands out for all to see. What may have been a horrific memory has been turned into a cultural heritage. This is a great challenge to all, portraying that it is never too little or too late, to have an individual’s views change the whole society. This should awaken and challenge individual citizens to express their past experiences in their own way. The older generation is also called upon to ensure that the artistic, and cultural heritage does not fizzle out and die in their time, before being passed on to the next generation (Jorge, 2006). There is also need to ensure that the artistic culture and heritage of a society is well preserved in a manner easily retrievable for all future generations. The example of Brodsky’s photography is worth learning from, on how documentation of cultural values is important. Remembering the past is the best way of avoiding the mistakes previously committed. The younger generation may not have been there when the mistakes were committed, but by passing over the information to them, they live with the memories On the contrary, the same cannot be said of the Jews in Argentina. Their history in Argentina dates back many years, but the first Jewish community in Buenos Aires was inaugurated in 1862, and the first synagogue in 1875. Argentina always welcomed Jews until 1938 when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis turned against them (Julia 2011). They have continually suffered violence in the hands of the natives. When Juan Peron rose to power in 1946, he welcomed both Jews and Nazis to Argentina. However, in 1955 when he was other thrown, anti-Semitism movement rose, and Jews started migrating from Argentina. This movement encouraged violence against Jews and even Looting in synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. During the Junta military rule that followed, Jews were a main target of the hard military operations.The Junta administration viewed Jews with suspicion, and as part of a wider scheme to occupy part of Argentina. Despite making only about 1% of the population, over 12% of the victims of harsh military rules were the Jews. This shows how segregated they were. A good example of Jewish suffering is exhibited by one Jew, Jacobo Timerman. He was a journalist, and as part of his work, he extensively covered the nature of atrocities carried out by the government. He was arrested and put into incarceration as a result and still remains the most well known Jewish political prisoner of the dirty war (Rothe et al, 2011). Upon return to democracy in 1983, Jews seem to have been well tolerated, and even got a fair share of appointments into the successive governments. In 1989, Carlos Menem was erected president. Although his Arab orientation and previous support for Peron became a cause of alarm for the Jews, he proved tolerant, and also visited Israel a number of times. However, in 1990, two major attacks of terrorism that seem to have targeted Jews occurred in Argentina, killing numerous of them. Later the Israeli Embassy was bombed, killing 29 Jews. This was followed by bombing of the Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994, killing 85 people and injuring many others. Up to date, Jews in Argentina have continued to suffer anti-Semitic incidences and discrimination, most of them vandalism and verbal assaults. Today, only about 181,500 Jews live in Argentina, down from 310,000 in the 1960s. This is a true testimony that the Argentian society has not changed its attitude towards the Jews. Unlike in the native situation which has improved towards cohesion amongst them, the situation seems to be deteriorating silently for the Jews who are still suffering, despite having lived in Argentina for a long time. If similar measures would have been taken as were done by Brodsky, the Jews’ suffering would have been curtailed and they would be enjoying better living conditions in Argentina (Schmidt and Frydlewsky, 2007). Either due to oversight or unwillingness for anyone to visit their predicament, the end to this suffering of the Jews is not in sight. Whereas the Argentian population seem to be healing, the suffering of the Jews is getting deeper. It seems like no one is bold enough to point into these suffering, either among the natives, or the Jews. This is the reason as to why Jews have suffered for a long time, and are likely to continue suffering, unless an intervention is done. Much needs to be done to stop the ongoing discrimination. This is only an example of many existing situations, replicated in many other societies. In the case of Brodsky, his artistic work helped point out, and bring into sharp contrast, the evils of the Junta rule. As a result, he created a long lasting impression of his sad memories. Conclusion This discussion ends the analysis of the importance of Marcelo Brodsky’s work from the memory perspective. It has been demonstrated beyond doubts that an individual memory can be presented artistically, and be carried forth to generations. This can be shared with other people who may not have been there when the events occurred, but can create a lasting impression, and at the same time communicate the past to them. This in turn brings in transition, and builds a memory bridge from the living memory to the post memory, which benefits generations. It also emphasizes the fact that for a community to effectively handle its present and future predicaments, it must have a special place for the historic events, which would help them make sound judgements. These historical events are the button that must be handed over in an effective manner to other generations. This helps societies avoid pitfalls that may have cost them dearly in the past. It is therefore paramount that emphasis should be laid on the possible artistic ways of passing memories and sentiments to other people. People should also be encouraged to document appropriately, their feelings and emotions on major issues in the society. References List Battiti, F. (2010) ‘Art in the Face of the Paradox of Representation’, Catálogo Institucional Parque de la Memoria, p. 70. Brodsky, M. (2003). Memory works. [Salamanca], Universidad de Salamanca. Cadava, E., Nouzeilles, G., Fontcuberta, J., González, V., Keenan, T., Lissovsky, M., & Mraz, J. (2013). The itinerant languages of photography. Cameron, H. (1995). Memento Mori: Mourning, Monuments and Memory. Perspektive Berlin eV. http://www.ztg.tuberlin.de/fixingid/mementomori.pdf Foster, D. W. (2014). Argentine, Mexican, and Guatemalan photography: feminist, queer, and post-masculinist perspectives. International State Crime Initiative. n.d.Art and the Wounds of the Argentine Dirty War: Deepening Resistance by Documenting Horror and Preserving Memory Jorge, P., 2006. Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations, ‘Argentine Style’, Journal of Public Policy .26, pp 255 – 277 Julia R.,2011. Between the imaginary and the real: Photographic portraits of mourning and of melancholia in Argentina. 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