Objective:

The purpose of this article is to analyze the debates and problems that arise when presenting visually the memories of absence and mourning in memory museums, particularly those located in Latin America through contemporary art of the last decades.

Methodology:

Initially, it contextualizes the debates on the definition of history and memory, with the aim of identifying the problems around traumatic memory and a particular aesthetics of tragedy that arises from it. Subsequently, with the presence of some artistic works, it analyzes how memory allows to expand to other fields of creation, producing artistic and historical dialogues as forms of representation that communicate which may be inaccessible to transmit.

Originality:

By analyzing memory and its representation through contemporary artistic creations within places of memory, it is possible to recognize the infinite dimensions that exist to transmit histories of Latin American territory, and with this, to establish new dialogues that produce other means of reflection around memory and violence.

Conclusions:

The debate on the epistemic differences between memory and history shows various approaches to the museographical and curatorial proposals exhibited by these spaces. As a result, such differences in exhibitions, on the one hand, show the unspoken horror of what happened, and on the other hand, try to show other approaches with visual and artistic narratives that nuance the memories of grief and pain within each of these spaces.