Photography as mnemonic mediation and symbolic resistance in the work of Rosemberg Sandoval. An archival tracing between Cali and Tijuana

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between photography, collective memory, and symbolic resistance in the context of Colombian artist Rosemberg Sandoval’s work, through an archival search for a missing photographic record of his mural at Universidad del Valle (Cali, 1995). Drawing on a research-creation methodology that combines fieldwork in Cali and Tijuana, in-depth interviews, and document analysis, the article argues that the absence of the photographic image activates a chain of mnemonic mediations that articulate individual and collective memory. It also analyses the ethical tensions surrounding the representation of marginality in Sandoval’s work in relation to the notion of *pornomiseria* (Ospina & Mayolo, 1978), situating his trajectory within the theoretical frameworks of Latin American political performance (Taylor, 2003), structural violence (Galtung, 1969), and resilience as the production of meaning (Cyrulnik, 2001). The article concludes that the search for the lost image operates as an autonomous narrative device capable of generating archive and collective memory beyond the material existence of the visual document.