‘there was a need to reimagine the term disappearance itself within a more considered and intimate frame. It was necessary to account for the terror which lives on in the minds of everybody it touches…’
— Chantal Meza.
Art takes centre stage at the University of Bath this September with the launch of the Art on Campus programme, designed to enrich the educational experience for students and staff alike.
When students arrive on campus this September, they’ll be struck by a new art exhibition in the lofty, modern Chancellors Building: The State of Disappearance by renowned Mexican abstract painter Chantal Meza.
This bold collection, created over five years beginning in 2017, explores the concept of disappearance in its many forms—physical, cultural, ecological, and ideological. The exhibition opens as part of the university’s broader ambition to integrate art within its learning environment. Chantal Meza believes this approach is crucial. She said:
“Universities are places where ideas can grow. When you bring together art and education, you create new ways of seeing the world. You make space for difficult conversations and for imagining a future that is more peaceful, more just, and more welcoming of our shared differences. Art has the power to reveal what is vanishing from the world. In this way, art and education are inseparable, as they both aim to explore the past, confront the present, and envision a better future.”
Professor Brad Evans from the Centre for the Study of Violence collaborated with Meza on the project. He will give seminars and lectures in the modern space where some of the artworks will be housed. Guest speakers will also be invited to speak in the space. He said:
“ This initiative seeks to create a dialogue between art and academia, challenging us to confront the pressing social issues of our time. The role of art in education cannot be overstated. Art gives us a way to engage with complex and often painful realities more profoundly. It’s not just about understanding the issue—it’s about finding solutions and inspiring change.”
Student Governor Jimena Alama, the Student Governor and Student’s Union (SU) President also voiced her support for the initiative. She said:
“I am very moved by what this exhibition marks for the University of Bath. It is the first step of many of using our spaces to host artists, their expressions, and consequent conversations that will enrich the experience and the minds of generations of students to come.
The opening of The State of Disappearance coincides with the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico—an incident that shocked the world. According to Human Rights Watch, over 100,000 people have disappeared in Mexico since 2006, with thousands of unmarked graves discovered across the country. Enforced disappearance disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, including women, children, and migrants. Journalists reporting on these issues are also at risk, with nearly 150 murdered or disappeared in Mexico in the last two decades.
The crisis of enforced disappearance is not limited to Mexico. It spans continents and centuries, from the Holocaust, where disappearance was a weapon of genocide, to authoritarian regimes during the Korean Conflict, the Guatemalan Civil War of the 1960s, the “Disappeared” of Northern Ireland from 1972–2005, and the 2014 Nigerian school abductions.
Professor Deborah Wilson, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences said:
“As a poignant and sobering reminder, this exhibition is also launched on the date marking the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of the students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico. Students should feel safe and free, wherever they are in this world. For this reason, among others, the artist believes these works belong in a university setting, for it is through education and the union between image and thoughts, that new worlds are imagined. Words that are more peaceful, welcoming, and open to our shared differences.”
Chantal Meza: The State of Disappearance
The Chancellors’ Building, University of Bath
From September 27th, 2024.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle
