by photographer Marcos Adandia
2003 FiftyCrows PhotoFund Winner - Latin America Region

Mothers of the Disappeared is a symbolic work of pain, absence and human dignity. Adandia's stark portraits of mothers who lost their sons and daughters during the years of military dictatorship in Argentina are juxtaposed with photographs of the sites where the tragedies took place.

Between 1976 and 1983, known as the "Dirty Years" in Argentine's history, over 30,000 Argentineans went missing under the corruption and crime of dictatorial reign. The mothers of these disappeared came together in solidarity and protest, demanding truths, covering their heads with the white linen of their lost ones. The ritual continues to this day. Every Thursday afternoon, the mothers, now old women, join together to walk in a circle around Argentina's most symbolic site of freedom, the Plaza de Mayo, wearing the white scarves that represent the memory of human loss. Adandia pays homage to these mothers as the protagonists of social justice. His essay builds upon the scars of Argentine's history, the pursuit of human rights, and the bonds of a mother's love that may reconstruct social truth.