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The Disappeared
the Displaced
are all over our world now

Today there is a village
In China the farmers
were moved to let the Yangtzee flow

In Africa the natives
were displaced by farmers
who were displaced by natives
as colonial turned to post-colonial

In America the Native Americans
were displaced
again and again
till they discovered gambling
a cultural pursuit of their heritage
and displaced us
until we learned that gambling
meant profit

Bolivia sold water rights
to Bechtel
of modern engineering
until the poor had no water
no water
not even the right to the rain
as it fell

Progress can be good
AND progress can do harm
the difference
lies in the humanity of the doer

This painting was done in response to a photograph in the New York Times by Wesley Bocxe. Whereas Maria Pia Lara speaks of story narratives as a means of demanding recognition for those voices that have been suppressed, painting also demands recognition. In this version the brilliant reds and pinks, especially as I overlaid Wesley Bocxe's photograph, were a conscious demand for the recognition of los desparecidos. The remainder of the story can be found at Los Desparecidos de Guatemala.

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