Faltan 43

Faltan 43 Digital collage, 2025 – Honys Torres

On September 26, 2014, 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College were forcibly disappeared in Iguala, Mexico. Faltan 43 transforms that collective pain into a visual act of remembrance—a cry that refuses oblivion: “They were taken alive, we want them back alive.”

The central figure, inspired by Frida Kahlo, embodies Mexican resistance and the transformation of grief into art. With the number 43 marked on her forehead, she holds a fallen body in a composition that evokes The Pietà, though here there is no divine redemption—only denunciation, rage, and political tenderness. The gesture is maternal, but also militant.

The vibrant background and pop elements contrast with the gravity of the message, creating tension between the aesthetic and the ethical. Faltan 43 does not seek consolation; it demands justice. It is a visual offering that turns the icon into a witness, and art into a trench.

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