Piraq Causa, Contemporary Art Museum, Lima

Visiting the Contemporary Art Museum in Lima I came upon this cycle of paintings The Piraq Causa, or Who is Still to Blame that took my breath away. The paintings record conscriptions, executions, domestic violence, hiding from the military and further horrors of war inflicted upon the Sarhua in Ayacucho, Peru on small tablets, less than two feet wide. The Maoist Guerrilla Group, the Shining Path, launched their uprising against the Peruvian government in the Sarhua region. The tablas or painted boards are a tradition in this region and would be given to those building new homes according to the Virtual Museum of Memory. The tablas were painted by a collective, the Association of Peruvian Tablistas, who relocated to Lima during the time troubled times.