All roads led to political awareness in Argentina where activists are using street art to recount events during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

Yellow rhombus-shaped road signs alerted people of former torturers living in the area.

Maps resembling the Buenos Aires subway system highlighted areas where clandestine concentration camps were located during the dictatorship.

Stubs that look like subway tickets instead bore the name and photo of a former torturer who headed security for the subway firm Metrovias.

Plaques and altars similar to those commemorating the countrys independence heroes marked spots along the road where 29 demonstrators were killed during the December 2001 popular uprising that forced then President Fernando De la Rua to step down from office. Markers carried the victims names, ages and the dates they were killed.

Even existing billboards and advertising posters were used in the campaign. A poster for a recital by Puerto Rican pop star Chayanne was
marked with a speech bubble calling for freedom for those arrested in a street demonstration.

The creative efforts of the Street Art Group (GAC), a group of eight artists, designers and photographers, use everyday communication tools to commemorate those who were detained and those who disappeared during the period.

The GAC was originally formed in 1997 to back a protest by teachers demanding a wage hike and a greater share in the education budget. At present, GAC works with organisations defending human rights and unemployed workers. The group aims to infiltrate traditional communication systems and subvert the message," GAC member Carolina Golder explained.

Their current campaign with HIJOS, children of people who were forcibly disappeared during the dictatorship in actions known as escarches, aims to raise awareness on where former torturers and agents of repression are living.

IPS correspondent Marcela Valente reported that the signs and materials are often taken down by the police within a few days or a week. However, GAC quickly replaces the sign, map or poster on, or near the same spot.

Despite the short-lived nature of the campaign materials, they are welcomed by the public who often react with surprise and curiosity at seeing normal signs of law and order transformed into unexpected messages.

What we do isnt art, but collective interventions aimed at opening up dialogue with people, said Golder in the IPS news article.

Through their art mediums, GAC shows the power of art to inform the community.

Source: 

Valente, Marcela. (2006, February 16). Activist artists subvert the message. Retrieved from <http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32140>.