CORVALLIS, Ore. – Posters commemorating the 41 girls who died and 15 who were severely injured in a shelter fire outside Guatemala City last year will be on display in the Little Gallery at Oregon State University March 7 through April 25.

A reception to celebrate the exhibit’s opening will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. March 8 – the one year anniversary of the fire - at the gallery in 210 Kidder Hall, 2000 S.W. Campus Way, Corvallis.

On March 8, 2017, 41 girls died and 15 were severely burned in a shelter outside Guatemala City when government officials held them and ignored their pleas for help when a fire began in their locked room.

The exhibition features commemorative portraits selected from more than 60 artists around the world. The artists joined together under the social media hashtag #NosDuelen56 to honor and commemorate the victims of the Hogar Seguro massacre.

The fire anniversary and the exhibit’s official opening coincide with International Women’s Day.

As part of events acknowledging the day and the fire’s anniversary, a lecture on human rights in Guatemala will be held at 6 p.m. in the OSU Memorial Union Horizon Room. Rob Mercatante and Dania Rodriguez, co-directors of the Human Rights Project, and Stef Arreaga of Ocho Tijax, an organization of women who support fire survivors and victims’ families, will speak. The talk is free and open to the public.

The exhibit and lecture are sponsored by the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program; the President’s Commission on the Status of Women; the Women’s Center; the School of History, Philosophy and Religion, and the School of Language, Culture and Society.

The Little Gallery is open 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

College of Liberal Arts

About the OSU College of Liberal Arts: The College of Liberal Arts encompasses seven distinct schools, as well as several interdisciplinary initiatives, that focus on humanities, social sciences, and fine and performing arts. Curriculum developed by the college’s nationally and internationally-renowned faculty prepares students to approach the complex problems of the world ethically and thoughtfully, contributing to a student's academic foundation and helping to build real-world skills for a 21st century career and a purposeful life.

Story By: 

Michelle Klampe, 541-737-0784, [email protected]

Source: 

Helen Wilhelm, 541-737-2146, [email protected]

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