Uruguayan Torture Series comprises 35 photo-etchings through which Camnitzer alludes to the torture enacted upon civilians by Uruguay’s military dictatorship (1973–85). Camnitzer was living in New York when he produced the series, which reacts to abuses of power in his home country by paying tribute to friends who were detained.
Rather than directly depicting physical violence, the images are mostly close-cropped views of Camnitzer’s own body interacting with everyday objects. The poetic phrases by which they are accompanied convey both suffering and intimations of emotional resilience, manifesting the collective grief of political violence.