Impossible Histories: Violence, Identity, and Memory in Colombian Visual Arts

Abstract

With the seemingly over-pessimistic title ‘Impossible Histories’, I refer to a particular condition present in Colombian culture, where the ‘forest’ of narratives of violence cannot be incorporated into a historical narration, one capable of making sense of such violence. As I will argue, this is caused by a complex weaving of memory and oblivion, visibility and invisibility regarding the issue of violence. Violence is central in the production of collective identity, as the past is punctuated by violent events often followed by veils of official oblivion (Pécaut, 2003; Sánchez, 2003).

Selective memories cannot be avoided, but they can be counteracted.

(Davies, 1995, p. 11)