Four Hundred Unquiet Graves
2020 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
23:24 minutes
Manuel Correa
Manuel Correa’s documentary Four Hundred Unquiet Graves is a powerful and vulnerable visual essay about the descendants of those who were disappeared during the Spanish Civil War from 1936–1939. The film reveals the spectrum of violence that surrounds the war, namely the impact of thousands of forced disappearances on different generations. Surviving family members are haunted not only by the absence of their grandparents, but also by the overwhelming grief that lives in their parents. Sixty kilometers outside of Madrid, The Valley of the Fallen houses a colossal basilica and an eighty-meter-high cross that towers over the nearby highway. The complex was commissioned by Francisco Franco’s fascist government to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of his victory over democracy in 1959. Its intended nationalistic symbolism attempts to conceal the fact that it is potentially the largest mass grave in the world, housing 33,800 bodies relocated from 491 unmarked gravesites from all over Spain. The remains of an unknown number of victims of enforced disappearance are buried together with the dead fighters of Franco’s army—many of whom may have been their captors and executioners. Forty-five years have passed since the death of dictator Francisco Franco, yet no studies of the building’s ossuaries have been carried out. While it is known that there are 12,669 unidentified bodies interred on the site, it is impossible to confidently state the number of Franco’s victims consigned to El Valle de los Caídos—a testament to the magnitude and cruelty of the crime. Through raw firsthand interviews, Correa traces the extent of this destruction through multiple generations of the same family. Four Hundred Unquiet Graves traces the violence and trauma incited by decades of manipulation and concealment by several institutions of power, particularly the Spanish government and the Catholic Church. The film sensitively reveals the mechanisms of resistance used by different generations to combat the treachery of bureaucratic concealment and divine intimidation.
Manuel Correa’s practice deals with the reconstruction of post-conflict intergenerational memory in contemporary societies. As an artist often working with the visual language of documentary, Correa is critical of the relationship between cinema and the notion of “truth.” His work as a Forensic Architecture researcher also informs his films, which oftentimes feature strong visual data analysis graphics. By moving between intimate shots and data synthesis, the artist creates informative, sympathetic, and powerful films. Correa’s body of work is diverse and internationally recognized. His thorough investigations track transnational post-conflict traumas and draw connections between its subjects globally. For example, his 2018 film La Forma del Presente (The Shape of Now) , addresses the search for collective meaning and accountability in the wake of Colombia’s 50-year-long armed conflict. More than anything, Correa’s practice is about the process of creating historical memory, both its promise and its fallibility.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » ARTS EQUATOR
MervEspina and the Green Papaya Art Projects (via The Myanmar Times) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles September 22, 2018 With the support of Japan Foundation and collaboration of Myanm/Art, MervEspina, artist and researcher from Philippines talked about Green Papaya Art Projects whose essence can be rendered as ‘never ripe, never rotten’...
© » KADIST
Nicolás Grum
2014El gran pacto de Chile (The Great Pact) and La balserita de Puerto Gala (The Raft) were part of the “Museo Futuro”, an exhibition in which the artist presented nine miniature dioramas staging fragments of Chile’s history, from its colonial invasions to the present...
© » THEARTNEWSPER
Blockbuster Pop art show in Mumbai marks a new type of exhibition for India Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Mumbai blog Blockbuster Pop art show in Mumbai marks a new type of exhibition for India Pop: Fame, Love, Power at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre is an unprecedented but surface-level survey for a broad audience Kabir Jhala 9 February 2024 Share Installation view of Pop: Fame, Love, Power at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Mumbai Courtesy of NMACC When Nita Ambani, India’s wealthiest woman, opened her eponymous cultural centre in Mumbai last March, many in the art world were intrigued...
© » KQED
With Sway's Blessing, SF Rapper Frak Is Ready to Level Up | KQED Skip to Nav Skip to Main Skip to Footer upper waypoint Arts & Culture With Sway's Blessing, SF Rapper Frak Is Ready to Level Up Nastia Voynovskaya Feb 9 Save Article Save Article Failed to save article Please try again Email Frak at Billy Goat Hill in San Francisco on Feb...
© » ARTNEWS ARTISTS
The Defining Artworks of 2023 – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By The Editors of ARTnews Plus Icon The Editors of ARTnews View All December 18, 2023 2:20pm Photo Illustration: Kat Brown/ARTnews Each year, countless new artworks are made and historical ones come into sharper focus as events in the art world and beyond give them new valance...
© » WALLPAPER*
Ikea Dajlien collections marks the company's wellness debut | Wallpaper The Ikea Dajlien collection, mixing wellness and training equipment with a domestic-led approach (Image credit: Courtesy Ikea) By Maria Sobrino published 11 December 2023 If you think Ikea has conquered every facet of our lives, think twice - think home training as well...
© » KADIST
Joaquín Segura
2016Pyre , an installation by Mexico City-based artist Joaquín Segura, addresses corruption, impunity, and the role that failed governments play in the normalization of violence...
© » LITHUB
Embracing Uncertainty: In Defense of Question-Seeking Criticism ‹ Literary Hub Craft and Criticism Fiction and Poetry News and Culture Lit Hub Radio Reading Lists Book Marks CrimeReads About Log In Literary Hub Craft and Criticism Literary Criticism Craft and Advice In Conversation On Translation Fiction and Poetry Short Story From the Novel Poem News and Culture The Virtual Book Channel Film and TV Music Art and Photography Food Travel Style Design Science Technology History Biography Memoir Bookstores and Libraries Freeman’s Sports The Hub Lit Hub Radio Behind the Mic Beyond the Page The Cosmic Library Emergence Magazine Fiction/Non/Fiction First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing Just the Right Book Keen On Literary Disco The Literary Life with Mitchell Kaplan The Maris Review New Books Network Open Form Otherppl with Brad Listi So Many Damn Books Thresholds Tor Presents: Voyage Into Genre Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast WMFA Reading Lists The Best of the Decade Book Marks Best Reviewed Books BookMarks Daily Giveaway CrimeReads True Crime The Daily Thrill CrimeReads Daily Giveaway Log In Via Phaidon Embracing Uncertainty: In Defense of Question-Seeking Criticism Helen Molesworth on the Uses and Functionality of the Arts and Humanities By Helen Molesworth December 11, 2023 “Why Is the Sky Blue and Other Questions Regarding Writing” was originally published in Documents , no...
© » KADIST
Pascal Shirley
2006Gypsy shows an ambivalent scene, in which broken blinds and its unsmiling subject are balanced with the stilllife plentitude of watermelon slices and the beautifully lit nudity of the sitter...
© » KADIST
Kelley Walker
2004The triptych Black Star Press is part of the series ‘The Black Star Press project’ initiated in 2004 by the American artist Kelley Walker...
