Yellow light, like artificial sunshine, spreads over the walls, enveloping lined faces, fists held in defiance, startled pigeons, pain, joy, desperation, anger, all in a sea of creamy gold. There is a happy, almost innocent glow illuminating the pictures of people fighting to reclaim their loved ones, lost during a period of military dictatorship in Argentina. Under the brutal military junta that succeeded President Juan Perón, individuals who supported dissenting student, social or labor movements “disappeared.”

The Harry Drake Art Gallery is hosting a collection of pictures through Nov. 26 of the Madres, mothers of the children who disappeared. The pictures were taken by Sylvia Horwitz in an attempt to inform the world outside of Argentina about the terrible events that occurred there. Horowitz found her inspiration to do this work when she went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, intending to photograph tango dancers. Instead, she found the Madres. “In Argentina’s capital city, I met a group of activist women in 2005 who have participated in weekly protest marches on Plaza de Mayo for over 35 years…I was deeply moved and inspired by the Madres and Abuelas and wanted to make a visual record of what I was experiencing,” Horwitz said.

“It’s kind of hard to look at these pictures because the colors are so pretty. I can appreciate the beauty of the pictures, but the story they’re telling is so sad,” senior Mary Merrill said. Merrill studied the Madres in her Spanish class junior year, and had some background information on the subject.

Freshman Spencer Evert also knew a little about the Madres. “I read about it in the paper once… [It was] horrifying… very gripping,” Evert said. The Madres, or the Abuelas, are a group of women attempting to reunite with family members taken away from them by the government.

Although they were met with limited success, the Madres represent a struggle to find truth and justice, and avenge those whose lives have been twisted for their government’s sake. “The kids were hooded and blindfolded, with hands cuffed behind their backs… we waited, hiding and waiting to see what would happen; when they would bring them… that was the last time we heard of them… now thirty-two years have passed… this was the fate of the ‘disappeared,’” Beatriz Lewin, a member of The Madres said in an interview with Horwitz. Lewin’s son and daughter-in-law were taken by the police and military men during the period of military dictatorship in Argentina in 1976.

This persecution resulted in about 30,000 people being taken to concentration camps. “Exiles to Europe, Israel and other countries … destroyed our scientific community … thousands of those who couldn’t leave had to pass through the experience of a concentration camp and death,” Lewin said. Men and women, young and old, journalists, intellectuals, lawyers, musicians, anyone who tried to spread the truth or support opposition movements were sentenced to labor, torture, and eventually death. Pregnant women were also taken to the camps, and once they gave birth, the mothers were killed and the babys’ IDs were changed. Only five out of 400 babies and 89 out of 30,000 children have been found after thirty-five years, but the Madres still search for records and files that say what the government did with all those who disappeared.

“It was genocide,” Lewin said, recalling the terrors of that time. “[The kids] did not die of sickness nor accident… they were dropped from planes into rivers while still alive… tortured and murdered.” The Madres are also concerned about memory – remembering those who are still missing and educating people who don’t know about the events that took place. “[This is] a task for peace, against war so that these things will not be repeated… nunca mas [never again],” Lewin said. “The courts are very slow; justice is slow, but we continue demanding.”

Horowitz found her mission with the Madres; she encourages all the students of SPA to find theirs as well. “It’’s important to find a purpose. What little piece here can I do to heal the world? Right now, I have more meaning in my life than I know what to do with,” Horowitz said. “Stand up against something that’s wrong, don’t just be complacent, saying ‘not my problem.’ [The Madres are] not just something to be aware of… do something, indirectly or directly, to give meaning to your life.”

Many St. Paul Academy students did not know about this event before hand, but were touched nevertheless. “I thought the pictures and the story were very moving,” freshman Justine Miller said. Students who have visited this exhibit described it as “emotional,” “eye-opening,” “interesting,” and “touching.”

“The pictures are historic, emotional, and informative. Since I haven’t heard about this event beforehand, the pictures for me were quite shocking to look at. I wasn’t aware that such photographs exist,” sophomore Danish Mahmood said.

“It’s interesting to see old people protesting, rebellions seem like more of a young people thing,” junior Evva Parsons said.

“They’re still out there, raging hell,” Horowitz said with a laugh, pointing at the picture with an elderly woman, shaking her fist as she fights for memory, truth, justice, “It’s amazing.”

“Usually people think old women are useless, only grandmas… but this really shows that seemingly weak people can really make a difference in the world,” freshman Johnny Addicks O’Toole said. “If you passed this woman on the street, you wouldn’t think she was anything special… but she’s out there, making a difference.”

“A primary intention of my work is to ‘open minds and hearts’ to the seeking of truth and justice in our world,” Horowitz said, “[just like] SPA’s philosophy.”