Many Layers, One Method: A Collective Research into Forms of Social Disappearancee

Abstract

Vidas Descontadas, by the Vi-Des team, addresses the social disappearence and radical abandonment of those lives that lack protection and official recognition. It proposes a break with traditional academic language and instead uses "cata" as a method that seeks to trace clues and layers of precaurious realities rather than offering closed or all-encompassing explanations or interpretations. Though a hybrid narrative -which integrates chronicles, field notes, photographs, and illustrations- the project explores scenarios of social neglect across different parts of the world. The research gives prominence to the bodies and the senses in order  to capture realities that are imposible to assimilate or that lie outside the realm of ordinary perception. The team is committed to experimenting with forms of expression that make it possible to visualize and give voice to what is usually erased from historical or sociological records.