El Salvador, San Miguel Province

James Nachtwey, American, born 1948

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1984

Digital print

Width: 39 in. (99.1 cm)

Height: 26 in. (66 cm)

Image: 26 × 39 in. (66 × 99.1 cm)

Sheet: 26 × 39 in. (66 × 99.1 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W'18 Fund

2021.6.36

Geography

Place Imaged: El Salvador, Central America

Place Made: United States, North America

Period

20th century

Object Name

Photograph

Research Area

Photograph

Not on view

Label

Estas fotografías de James Nachtwey capturan los impactos la guerra en la vida de los salvadoreños. Durante la guerra civil salvadoreña (1980-1992), el Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), una coalición de organizaciones de izquierda, luchó contra las élites, el ejército y el estado apoyado por los EE. UU. Usando tácticas de guerrilla, el FMLN buscó acabar con la desigualdad extrema. Al final, aproximadamente 80.000 personas murieron en manos de las fuerzas gubernamentales y la guerra no produjo mucho más que una sociedad devastada sumida en una democracia débil y una paz insustancial. Aproximadamente el 25% de la población del país huyó, estableciendo comunidades en Estados Unidos, Canadá, Italia y Australia. Desde entonces, la emigración salvadoreña no ha cesado.

James Nachtwey’s photographs capture the impacts of war on Salvadorans. During the Salvadoran Civil War (1980–92), the FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, a coalition of left-wing organizations) fought against elites, military, and a government backed by the United States. Using guerrilla tactics, the FMLN sought to overturn extreme inequality. In the end, approximately 80,000 people died at the hands of government forces and the war yielded little beyond a war-torn society mired by weak democracy and an insubstantial peace. Roughly 25% of the country’s population fled, establishing communities in the United States, Canada, Italy, and Australia. Since then, Salvadoran out-migration has not ceased.

From the 2022 exhibition Bolas de Fuego: Culture and Conflict in Central America, curated by Jorge E. Cuéllar, Assistant Professor of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies

Course History

LACS 8.01, Politics and Culture in Transnational Central America, Jorge Cuellar, Summer 2022

LACS 8.01, Politics and Culture in Transnational Central America, Jorge Cuellar, Summer 2022

LACS 8.01, Politics and Culture in Transnational Central America, Jorge Cuellar, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

Bolas de Fuego: Culture and Conflict in Central America, Teaching exhibition, Guest curator Jorge E. Cuellar, Class of 1967 Gallery and the LeWitt Wall, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 28-September 25, 2022.

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