Gustavo Germano uses photography to address Argentina’s disappeared

Argentine photographer Gustavo Germano explores the intersection of memory and absence through his project ‘Ausencias’. Created in 2006, the work addresses the trauma of the military coup in Argentina between 1976 and 1983, which resulted in the forced disappearance of over 30,000 people.

Germano utilizes a diptych structure to bridge a thirty-year gap. He pairs vintage family photographs from the 1970s with contemporary images taken in the exact same locations with identical framing and lighting. By recreating these scenes, the work highlights the physical and emotional void left by those who were taken, using a documentary style that avoids artificial dramatization to emphasize the presence of what is no longer there.