Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Issue 1 | Page 31

integral parts of the drawings communicating with the drawings and also
as testimony in their own right. Here, then, are English translations �� of the
texts reproduced in the artworks:
Forgive the brutal letters I often sent you
sorry about the violent letters I sometimes send you. I admit that at times I feel very hurt
that you don’t understand what is happening here but then I come to my senses and realize
that it is very difficult to accept that there’s another war going on when it isn’t included in
newspapers or on the radio and TV.
Farewell
Yesterday, Saturday, a lot of white soldiers were bidding farewell to Guinea, in search of
their final pleasures. The prostitutes of Pilão were doing a heroic job.
Bissau December ��, ����.
TMD-8
this separation is one of the most heart-rendering things I’ve ever experienced. Because it
is total.
My longing for you is overwhelming. I still haven’t managed to convince myself that we are
separated …
There is absolutely nothing here
… this is utter desolation,
believe me,
it’s desolating …
what we have here is sand …
and more sand
… I’d like to get you a present but
here there isn’t
absolutely anything
Recent writings in the social sciences and humanities have decoupled
the concept of being a witness from personal observation. In its most
radical reformulation, the concept of being a witness does not refer to
people anymore but to material objects. Photographs, for example, appear as
witnesses in Azoulay’s work (����:���) and as “social agents … bearing witness
to past events” in Lowe’s work (����:���). It is in this context that another
Botelho installation, appropriately titled Contagem Descrescente 1967–1969
(Countdown), is important: soldier diaries, but particular diaries largely devoid
of text (Figures �� and ��). These diaries are, as Porfírio (����:��) explains,
��
Translated from the Portuguese by Carole Garton; translations used by permission.
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