Emilia Yang | AMA Y NO OLVIDA

In 2018, Nicaragua experienced major political turmoil when a coalition of students, civic action groups and everyday citizens, rose up against the authoritarian Ortega-Murillo regime. Despite the emphasis on peaceful resistance, these large-scale anti-governmental protests were violently repressed by police and paramilitary forces, leading to least 355 deaths. Significant human rights violations and crimes against humanity were committed, as documented by the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. These events plunged the country in a deep political and socio-economic crisis, and repression has not ceased since.

AMA Y NO OLVIDA – Museum of Memory against Impunity is a diasporic transmedial and communitarian museum founded by the Association Mothers of April (AMA), an organisation of families of victims of state violence. The museum aims to safeguard their memory in an active sense, creating community and building solidarity while continuing to demand accountability, working towards future legal processes for truth and justice. It is led by Emilia Yang, who has worked together with victims’ families and with an interdisciplinary team in developing an aesthetic programme and visual identity to accompany its itinerant presence. These efforts are critical since the Nicaraguan government continues to act with impunity, having forced over 600,000 citizens into exile.

In Denuncia No. 204, Yang denounces the case of her uncle Vicente, who was assassinated by paramilitaries operating on behalf of the Nicaraguan government during the 2018 unrest. This tragic event is demarcated by the physical and emotional traces left within the bureaucratic processes required to evidence a loved one’s existence when demanding justice within a climate of impunity.