Anatomy
of Violence

Five photographic series built from the testimony of Blanca Díaz, a Wayuu woman from the Con Zepa community in La Guajira, Colombia. Her husband Juancho was murdered by paramilitaries in 2000. Her daughter Zuka — fifteen, saving money for the anniversary of her father's death — was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by men working for Jorge 40 and Hernán Giraldo, sixteen days before that anniversary, in December.

The work does not narrate the testimony. It translates it into objects. A handprint in the soil. Hair spread on the ground. A boot with flowers. A single flower.

My husband was «vachi», which means a wise man. He had great knowledge of healing plants; he cured people from all over Colombia and the world. His fame and powers stirred envy in many. One by one his brothers were murdered without mercy, until it was Rubén Antonio's turn — Juancho, as we called him.

In that time the zones were fought over by Hernán Giraldo and Jorge 40. The girls who wore short blouses had car acid thrown on their bellies. We were talking about fourteen-year-old girls who, according to the paramilitaries, did not follow the moral norms of the homeland.

My godfather says that she shouted "mommy help me", "mommy defend me", "don't kill me". The place where they killed and raped her was the well. In the medical examiner's photos they left her dead in the lagoon. The other girls remained disappeared. Only one survived, but she went completely mad.

No one recognized my daughter, so before we arrived she was buried in Cuestecitas. Four months later we managed to get them to tell us where she was buried. We took her out, put her in a coffin, and buried her in the cemetery next to her father. Years later they threatened us and demanded we remove my daughter's coffin from the cemetery because she was indigenous. I wrapped her in a white chinchorro.

My daughter was called Zuca after a famous actress in a Brazilian soap opera called "The Mestiza". In the soap they speak about disputes over land between two families, a theme so present in Colombia.

— Testimony of Blanca Díaz, 2021. Material preserved by the artist under express authorization for this work.

The work does not illustrate the testimony. It does not reproduce any scene. It works with the objects the testimony left suspended: the hand that did not arrive to defend, the hair thrown on the ground, the boots that returned without the person. The material of grief without a body.

Blanca Díaz authorized the use of her voice for this work. Authorship of the testimony belongs to her. Visual authorship belongs to the artist. No restitution is possible. What the work does is refuse to let the silence close.