Art can allow people a voice.

During the Argentine dictatorship, Los Madres began to wear the white headscarves as a way to signal the disappearance of their children to others (Learning for Justice Staff, 2022) As mothers, they were a powerful and sympathetic image to the public. When the Argentine government disappeared people, they did so in a way that gave loved ones zero closure (Blakemore, 2019). Nobody was told the certain fate of their loved one. In psychology, there is a principle called anticipatory grief. Essentially, anticipatory grief elongates the grief and pain one experiences from a trauma because of a lack of an end date (Conrad, 2022). The Argentine government exponentially increased the trauma that the family members of the disappeared experienced due to the lack of closure they were given. Los Madres displayed their trauma by wearing the white head scarves. The headscarves became an artistic symbol of the movement against the dictatorship. Los Madres were a voice for the disappeared. Los Madres found a voice despite being silenced.

Art can bring people together, as demonstrated in the Argentine fight for abortion rights. Groups such as HIJOS would wear green bandanas in order to show their support for this human rights movement. The green bandana became a symbol of the fight for abortion rights and people were able to show their support by also wearing a green bandana. This art is a form of resistance because the people were showing the government what change was necessary. A government is supposed to function in the best interest of its people, and this artistic demonstration illustrated the needs of the people and played a large part in why abortion was legalized in Argentina in 2020 (Goldberg, 2021).

Despite the controversy surrounding her legacy, one cannot deny the extent to which Evita molded herself into one of the most influential figures in Argentine history. Evita made her mark on Argentine history by becoming the most politically active woman in the country’s history. During the height of Peronism, people who held different viewpoints than the accepted Peronism view were seen as traitors to the country (Finchelstein, 2014). However, many people did support Evita and Peronism due to the way that they were highlighted in society. In the Evita museum, we saw how the school books were almost indoctrinating in the sense that they only highlighted the positive aspects of Evita’s foundation. It is true that Evita did many positive things for Argentina such as creating houses and jobs for the working class (Sajer, 1997), but she also discouraged people from forming their own opinions and disagreeing with her. Evita carefully curated herself to be an image of hope for the future. As someone who was born as an “illegitimate” child, she worked diligently to become famous and then found a political space where she held large amounts of influence. She used herself as a picture of change for the Argentine people so that they could rise from poverty as she did. At the museum, we learned about how Evita carefully selected the dresses she wore in order to convey a particular message. Evita portrayed herself in a way that was both relatable and powerful similar to how an artist paints a canvas. She gave herself and other women a voice (women’s suffrage in Argentina passed in 1947) because of the platform she created herself as a performer. Her art form allowed her and other women to have a voice in Argentine society.