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What was once a hidden secret defining totalitarian regimes has become the defining problem of our times. Every day we encounter stories concerning the disappearance of humans, communities, cultures, and life sustaining ecosystems. Disappearance has also become a dominant theme in popular entertainment, as we have normalised the extreme. But how are we to make sense of this? This is not just about increased awareness. It now openly touches our most primal of fears – to vanish without a trace – which has been amplified in our visual landscapes that depend upon and yet weaponize the value we place on appearances.
Recognizing this state of affairs and the ways in which societies are precariously hovering over disappearance fault-lines, this book will map out in original ways the history of the phenomena to offer an urgent and timely intervention. Moving beyond old ideas concerning bodies, the authors demand new ways of seeing disappearance to inspire alternative ways of thinking and responses. Disappearance, they argue, is a form of neuroviolence that is inseparable from the invisible operations of power. Hence countering it, not only requires that we make visible those forces which continue to annihilate life, it is to look precisely at the way disappearance now structures our societies and is inseparable from any concern with power in the world.
Brad Evans
Brad Evans, a reader in political violence at the University of Bristol in England, is the founder and director of the Histories of Violence project dedicated to critiquing the problem of violence in the 21st century. The author of over 10 books and edited volumes, recent publications include Portraits of Violence: An Illustrated History of Radical Thinking (with Sean Michael Wilson) and Disposable Futures: The Seduction of Violence in the Age of the Spectacle (with Henry A. Giroux). Brad recently featured as the inaugural guest on Russell Brand's new podcast Under the Skin. Personal website: www.brad-evans.co.uk.
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Chantal Meza
Chantal Meza is an acclaimed Mexican painter based in the United Kingdom whose work practice focuses on the human as seen through various forms of disappearance. Her work is held in public and private collections around the world and over the past 15 years her paintings have featured in exhibitions and biennials in prominent Museums and Galleries in Mexico, United Kingdom, Paraguay and Germany. Having delivered international lectures and workshops at reputable universities such as Harvard University, École Normale Superiéure, and Goethe Univeristät, in 2025 she was appointed Artist Impact and Engagement Fellow at the University of Bath. Her State of Disappearance collection is now on permanent display at the university's Chancellors Building having being gifted following solo shows of the works in Bristol and London.
Chantal's solo Eden Bleeds show at St Marys Redcliffe, Bristol during March/April 2025 was the first contemporary art exhibition in the iconic venues 800-year history, featuring on BBC 1 Easter Sunday morning broadcast. Her Disappearance of Worlds solo exhibition at the JCR gallery, Pembroke College, University of Oxford in June 2025 received critical acclaim, notably from art critic Will Gompertz. Most recently, her exhibition Absence, was showcased at the Embassy of Switzerland in London at an event partnered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the British Red Cross. She is the author of many articles and co-editor of the book, State of Disappearance (McGill Queens Press: 2023). Chantal is currently Artistic Director for the Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies.
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