Julio Chalcu Ben "Beauty out of the darkness"
The Artist Julio Chalcu Ben created these beautiful paintings. Julio was born in the department of Solola. He was the eldest son and grew up helping his father with small scale vegetable production. He was an especially hard worker and at the age of 19 was able to purchase a
n old T
oyota pickup to help move both his family´s crops as well as other local farmers produce to the large market in Solola. Sadly, there were others who were jealous of Julio´s capacity to do "fletes" and move vegetables to market. A wealthy non-indigenous family as well as some of his jealous (indigenous) neighbors fingered Julio as an insurgent. On an afternoon in December of 1990 he was siezed by paramilitary troops and taken to the military base outside of Solola. He was brutally tortured for days and subsequently his almost lifeless body was dropped by the side of the road outside of a town 5 hours from his home.
He was found by local people who advised the volunteer fire department. They took him to the hospital where he began his recovery. Julio spent 5 months at the hospital in Escuintla. Eventually he recovered the use of his voice (his throat had been cut) and was able to inform his caregivers that he was from the town of Solola. Whereupon staff drove him to Solola delivering him to his family´s home. It is hard to imagine the mixture of shock and relief that his parents must have felt when they saw their son return, albeit in a very broken state, 5 months after his disappearance.
Neighbors who were connected to a Guatemalan human rights group encouraged the family to publicly denounce the brutal torture that Julio had experienced at the hands of the Guatemalan army. After his story made the front page of the national newspaper Julio was encouraged, for his safety, to leave the country. He traveled, accompanied by human rights activists, to Chicago where he spent a year and a half receiving therapy at the Marjorie Kovler Centre for Survivors of Torture and the Su Casa Catholic Worker House. Julio returned to Guatemala only to leave again for another eight month period of intensive therapy in Eugene, Oregon at the Amigos de los Sobrevivientes centre for survivors. There he learned to paint using his left hand (his right was badly damaged as a result of the torture).
After his return from Eugene Julio was hired by the Asociacion Maya where he worked for 14 years as their custodian. In October of 2009 he was run over by a pickup truck as he was taking out the garbage to the street. Julio is again on the mend and while no longer able to work as a custodian he has rededicated himself to his art and has begun to create a new series of paintings based on scenes from daily life in Maya Guatemala.
Julio´s work is a true testament to the power of the human spirit to overcome even the most horrendous abuse and to his own persnal journey to persevere and create beauty out of darkness.
n old Toyota pickup to help move both his family´s crops as well as other local farmers produce to the large market in Solola. Sadly, there were others who were jealous of Julio´s capacity to do "fletes" and move vegetables to market. A wealthy non-indigenous family as well as some of his jealous (indigenous) neighbors fingered Julio as an insurgent. On an afternoon in December of 1990 he was siezed by paramilitary troops and taken to the military base outside of Solola. He was brutally tortured for days and subsequently his almost lifeless body was dropped by the side of the road outside of a town 5 hours from his home.He was found by local people who advised the volunteer fire department. They took him to the hospital where he began his recovery. Julio spent 5 months at the hospital in Escuintla. Eventually he recovered the use of his voice (his throat had been cut) and was able to inform his caregivers that he was from the town of Solola. Whereupon staff drove him to Solola delivering him to his family´s home. It is hard to imagine the mixture of shock and relief that his parents must have felt when they saw their son return, albeit in a very broken state, 5 months after his disappearance.
Neighbors who were connected to a Guatemalan human rights group encouraged the family to publicly denounce the brutal torture that Julio had experienced at the hands of the Guatemalan army. After his story made the front page of the national newspaper Julio was encouraged, for his safety, to leave the country. He traveled, accompanied by human rights activists, to Chicago where he spent a year and a half receiving therapy at the Marjorie Kovler Centre for Survivors of Torture and the Su Casa Catholic Worker House. Julio returned to Guatemala only to leave again for another eight month period of intensive therapy in Eugene, Oregon at the Amigos de los Sobrevivientes centre for survivors. There he learned to paint using his left hand (his right was badly damaged as a result of the torture).
After his return from Eugene Julio was hired by the Asociacion Maya where he worked for 14 years as their custodian. In October of 2009 he was run over by a pickup truck as he was taking out the garbage to the street. Julio is again on the mend and while no longer able to work as a custodian he has rededicated himself to his art and has begun to create a new series of paintings based on scenes from daily life in Maya Guatemala.
Julio´s work is a true testament to the power of the human spirit to overcome even the most horrendous abuse and to his own persnal journey to persevere and create beauty out of darkness.
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