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El Salvador: Legacy of Violence
On View: September 20 – October 27, 2024
Bronx Documentary Center Annex
364 E. 151st St, Bronx, NY 10455
The Bronx Documentary Center’s exhibition, El Salvador: Legacy of Violence, pairs two important and historic photographic projects done three decades apart–one by American photographer Robert Nickelsberg, the other by Salvadoran photographer Fred Ramos–bodies of work that mirror, inform and resonate, each with the other. The two projects define El Salvador’s troubled Cold War history, document today’s political evolution and focus on US complicity and negligence in the small Central American country’s troubled past and present.
Exhibition curated by Mike Kamber and Cynthia Rivera
Exhibitions at the Bronx Documentary Center are made possible by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Foundation support is provided by the Clif Family Foundation, Chris Hondros Fund, Four Friends Foundation, Ford Foundation, Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, Lawrence Foundation, Pierre and Tania Matisse Foundation, Peck Foundation, Scherman Foundation, and the Van Agtmael Fund. Special thanks to our corporate sponsors Adobe, BronxCare Health System, Fujifilm, and Montefiore Health System.
Ramos, born in 1986, and a World Press Photo Award winner, shows us the current land of unfortunate extremes–in the past decade, El Salvador has gone from being one of the most violent countries in the world, largely controlled by heavily armed gangs, to today being the country with the highest incarceration rate on the planet. Ramos’ photos document, as well, some of the millions of Salvadorans who have made a dangerous trek north to seek refuge in the United States, and the brutal, autocratic and wildly popular crackdown by President Najib Bukele.
Upon viewing Ramos’ troubling photos, the obvious question is, “How did this small, stunningly beautiful country of six million get to this point?”
Veteran photojournalist Robert Nickelsberg, winner of the Overseas Press Club’s Olivier Rebbot award, answers this 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 during the early 1980s.
His photos show us everyday life in the Salvadoran countryside, set off by jarring, violent images of combat and death as American advisors and Latin American leftists turned El Salvador into a Cold War pawn littered with tortured bodies, primarily those of civilians.
Together, Ramos’ and Nickelsberg’s photos reflect on this often ignored history, triggering questions about US foreign policy and the legacy of the Cold War. Their work also looks at issues of dictatorship versus democracy at the ground level, as Salvadorans struggle to live daily lives filled with dignity and peace.