Artist of Resistance

Can a village heal after the massacre of its children? A Berkeley artist journeys into the jungle of El Salvador to battle repression and obliteration with the life-affirming act of creating art. Claudia Bernardi, an internationally known artist who works in the fields of human rights and social justice, takes a journey into the guerrilla territory of El Salvador. There she joins the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team to participate in the excavation of a mass grave. Their mission is to record the truth: was it a battle between two armies, or a massacre? Rufina Amaya Marquez, mother of four and the only survivor of the massacre, insisted on justice until the United Nations Truth Commission finally ordered this investigation. The excavation begins. Slowly they uncover the bones of 131 children whose average age is 6 years old. Clearly these are not guerilla soldiers. The case is closed. But the El Salvadorian government provides amnesty for those responsible.