“This book is both a document and an elegy. The regular edition is as modest as the students were poor: staple-bound, simple matt paper, and mono-toned ink and priced to be accessible in Mexico. The limited edition is priced to pay for the production of the former. The book’s layout is unorthodox and essential. It begins and ends with a list of the boys’ names and their youthful faces as they appear on the “have you seen?” handouts distributed by their parents. In between these lists is the photographer’s poignant homage and reckoning.” — Anne Wilkes Tucker

For centuries, artists have drawn on social and political events for inspiration. Fine artists have created art works that, taken directly from current controversial news, inform and move the viewer in ways that simple journalism or editorial commentary fall short.

Desaparecen? is an unusually poignant and moving art work that does not fall short. Created by Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, one of Mexico’s best known and influential photographers, Desaparecen? is a piercing work of photographs and poetic words beautifully collaged to implant in our memory a horrific event: the mysterious loss of 43 poor activist students traveling by bus (which they commandeered) to Mexico City to commemorate the anniversary of the 1968 Tlateloco Massacre. The details of their disappearance and probable massacre by authorities of Guerrero state have never come to light. The number “43” is recorded on every image of this work so we will never forget that number and remember also: the names of the students, “Donde quedaron”, “Justicia”, photographs of skeletal masks, photos of the students, “Donde Estan”, “vivas los queremos”, religious references.

Monasterio has created, on simple paper and a stapled document, an art work for the people: those who live and feel the tragedy of lives lost in such corruption. “Nunca Olvides”….Never Forget.