Kids of Fallen Mexican Police Are Using Art to Cope Rafa Fernandez De Castro - Fusion
go to original July 31, 2016

In recent years Mexico’s armed forces have been widely criticized for a series of drug war-related rights scandals ranging from torture to forced disappearances. But little has been said about the heroic men and women who have died in the line of duty, which in Mexico is more like “killed in action” in a drug war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

A Mexico City-based plastic artist is trying to help raise awareness about fallen police officers and the pain endured by the loved ones who are left behind.

In 2011 Emiliano Gironella began a series of art workshops to bring together the surviving family members of fallen officers of the federal police— a law enforcement agency tasked with fighting narcos along with the army and the marines.

Gironella says his art project, “Heroes and Scars,” and his foundation, “Hands Covered in Paint,” is about giving kids closure, allowing them to mourn, and letting them know that they can feel proud about what their parents did.

“In Mexico there is little recognition for those who die on the line of duty. Anywhere else in the world they would automatically become heroes,” Gironella told me.

The artist says the unpopular nature of the drug war and Mexicans’ mistrust of police has made many heroic feats to go unnoticed. He claims media coverage has also played a big role, often focusing on scandalous headlines and framing the country’s armed forces in the same vein as the criminals they are fighting.

He says all this has made the process of losing a father or mother in the line of duty even more painful for a child.

Read the rest at Fusion

Photo: Emiliano Gironella

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