The exhibition of Bronx Documentary Center, El Salvador: Legacy of Violencecombines two important and historic photographic projects made three decades apart – one by the American photographer Robert Nickelsbergthe other by the Salvadoran photographer Fred Ramos – works that reflect, inform and resonate, one with the other. Both projects trace El Salvador’s troubled Cold War history, document current political developments, and focus on U.S. complicity and neglect in the small Central American country’s troubled past and present.
Ramos, born in 1986 and winner of the World Press Photo Award, shows us today’s country of unfortunate extremes: over the past decade, El Salvador has gone from being one of the most violent countries in the world, largely controlled by gangs heavily armed. , to the point of today being the country with the highest incarceration rate on the planet. Ramos’ photos also document some of the millions of Salvadorans who made the dangerous journey north to seek refuge in the United States, as well as President Nayib Bukele’s brutal, autocratic and wildly popular crackdown.
Looking at Ramos’ disturbing photos, the obvious question is: “How did this small, stunningly beautiful country of six million people get to this point?” »
Veteran photojournalist Robert Nickelsberg answers that question with more than three dozen black-and-white photos taken shortly before Ramos was born. Nickelsberg, who covered most of the world’s conflicts and cultural and political revolutions for 30 years as a Time Magazine contract photographer, spent years documenting El Salvador’s brutal civil war in the early 1980s. His photos show us daily life in the Salvadoran countryside, accompanied by violent and jarring images of fighting and death as U.S. advisers and Latin American leftists transformed El Salvador into a Cold War pawn littered with tortured bodies, mostly those of civilians .
Together, Ramos and Nickelsberg’s photos reflect this often overlooked history, provoking questions about American foreign policy and the legacy of the Cold War. Their work also examines dictatorship versus democracy issues on the ground, as Salvadorans struggle to live daily lives filled with dignity and peace.
Robert Nickelsberg – Fred Ramos : El Salvador : Legacy of Violence
Until October 27, 2024
Bronx Documentary Center Annex
364 E. 151st St, Bronx, NY 10455
Thu-Fri 3pm-7pm and Sat-Sun 1pm-5pm Free entry
www.Bronxdoc.org
