Book Chalatenango luz y sombra: fotografías de Ralph Sprenkels y memorias de las comunidades repobladas to Be Presented at MUPI
The Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen [Museum of the Word and Image, MUPI] invites the public to the presentation of the book Chalatenango luz y sombra: fotografías de Ralph Sprenkels y memorias de las comunidades repobladas [Chalatenango Light and Shadow: Photographs by Ralph Sprenkels and Memories of the Repopulated Communities], a work that brings together Ralph Sprenkels’s powerful photographs alongside testimonies from communities repopulated during the Salvadoran postwar period.
The book, edited by Adriana Alas López, Lidice Michelle Melara Minero, and Irina Carlota Silber, is a joint initiative of Western University (Canada), the Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen [Museum of the Word and Image, MUPI], and Chalatenango communities as part of the Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador research initiative.
The presentation will take place on Monday, February 16, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. at MUPI, with the participation of the Grupo Teatral Memoria Viva [Living Memory Theater Group] of Las Vueltas and singer-songwriter Sandra Alas.
The book offers an approach to historical memory through the stories of women, men, young people, and children, captured through the committed and humanist gaze of Ralph Sprenkels (1969–2019), a Dutch-born anthropologist and historian. His images document the pain, resistance, and reconstruction of communities that, after the armed conflict, suffered the loss of their loved ones and faced the challenge of rebuilding their lives.
Sprenkels not only recorded history with his camera, but also accompanied community processes, especially those of women who, in the search for their disappeared sons and daughters, faced high-risk situations. His work today constitutes a valuable visual testimony to memory, dignity, and resilience in Chalatenango and throughout El Salvador.
In addition to the presentation at MUPI on Monday, February 16, Chalatenango luz y sombra [Chalatenango Light and Shadow] will also be presented on Tuesday, February 17, at 3:00 p.m. at Casa Museo Jon Cortina [Jon Cortina House Museum] in Guarjila, and on Wednesday, February 18, at 2:00 p.m. at the Centro Arte para la Paz [Center Art for Peace] in Suchitoto.
MUPI is located at 27 Avenida Norte, Urbanización La Esperanza #1140, between 19 and 21 Calle Poniente, San Salvador, El Salvador.
The Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador research initiative is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Western University, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Ontario Research Fund.