Walking around this morning, we passed a memorial on the town hall’s exterior. Fernando told us that while you wouldn’t know from looking at it, the words were from a letter smuggled out of prison (via women hiding them in their vaginas). Just from looking at the art piece, it’s hard to discern what’s going on. There is important context missing from it – some sign or plaque could really help people understand what it references. This reminded me of one of the texts I was reading (Text and the City: Design(at)ing Post-Dictatorship Memorial Sites in Buenos Aires). The author describes a memorial in Buenos Aires and the conversations that have taken place surrounding the purpose and efficiency of the memorial. To many, the most important part of constructing a memorial was making sure it wasn’t forgettable or creating “collective amnesia.” I thought this quote was powerful as an intention to memorializing Argentina’s past: ““este parque escultórico y este lugar de memoria no pretende cerrar heridas que no pueden cerrarse ni suplantar la verdad y la justicia” (This sculptural park does not pretend to close wounds that cannot be closed nor to supplant truth and justice)This is a main issue in the larger conversation of how we can preserve human rights abuses and history. I feel that memorials are paramount in helping preserve Argentina’s (and other countries’) historical tragedies. However, they must be aesthetically interesting enough to provoke some sort of experience or emotion, paired with actual information on the memorial that people can read. Outside of memorials, diving into human rights issues in the classroom, even from a young age, can help prevent future violations. 

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