Lo siniestro: vestigios de la guerra en cuatro series fotográficas de Juan Manuel Echavarría ; Casualty: remnants of war in four photographic series by Juan Manuel Echavarría

This article presents an interpretation of four different photo series of Juan Manuel Echavarría: Retratos (1996), NN (2005), Escuela Nueva (1998), and Silencios (2010 to date). Although it is common to interpret this kind of work of art in a contextual way, that is, as a key to comprehend Colombia’s armed conflict, this text follows a different path in analyzing the poetic dimension of Echavarría’s photography without giving up the reference to its context of origin. It focusses on its affective dimension, which effect is constructed from a poetic of the sinister. Through this poetic, Echavarría’s work manages to sort some of the common obstacles that political art faces: representation, easy emotional appeal, and an instantaneous acknowledgment with critical issues.