A voice that breaks the silence; a call that, for a moment, feels like a Gregorian chant, that invites what lies beyond. A lyrical sequence that links the artists Azul and Lindy Márquez to a tragedy imprinted on the memory of Colombians. The exhibition Ningún lugar a donde ir (Nowhere to Go) presents the artists’ interpretation of the Armero tragedy, the eruption of the volcano Nevado del Ruiz in 1985, that precipitated both their birth and the destruction of the whole town. This intimate image, built by sound, light, and narrative, evokes the deep connection of the twin sisters not only to a catastrophe occurring far away, but also to the stories of those who died, those who survived, and those who disappeared on that fateful night.

Standing on the grounds that once were the town of Armero, the sisters call out to the children who were never found, hoping that perhaps they will listen. Perhaps we will listen, too. Perhaps we will remember their names, the void that remains in their families, and the absence that prolongs the disappearance of Armero. The exhibition makes visible the fact that, for some, the tragedy does not exist merely in the past, but is a constant part of their present. By calling these names, the tragedy that affected the whole country returns to the personal, to the human and intimate scale that aims to build bridges between all of us.

Name by name, tear by tear, memory by memory, the artists invite the public to rebuild a town that we all belong to. The impossibility of escape conveyed by the title, both from natural forces and from the pain of uncertainty, evokes a place built in the collective memory of Colombians. It invites the public to engage in remembrance as an act of resistance to oblivion, to create in memory a place we can indeed go to, a place to encounter the other. Amidst a dim light that breaks through the darkness, the exhibition sustains the hope of rebuilding, even if only in our minds, a town, a unity that remains in the immaterial world.

ca.