Muriel Hasbun, an artist whose work poignantly recounted the effects of El Salvador’s civil war and its diaspora, has passed away at 64 from ovarian cancer. A DC art scene icon and advocate for Central American artists, her loss is deeply felt.

Hasbun's practice explored themes of memory and migration with a poetic sensitivity. Born in El Salvador to mixed heritage, she left the country in 1979 amid civil conflict, settling in Washington, D.C.

Her earliest works, like Je me souviens, c. 1945, showcase her use of photography and archival images to explore memory's haziness. In her series “Santos y sombras / Saints and Shadows,” she combined family photos with new ones, collapsing past and present into abstracted layers.

The death of Hasbun’s father in 2004 influenced her reflection on identity and legacy. Her X post facto (équis anónimo) series used dental X-rays to evoke the trauma of disappearances during El Salvador's civil war, showing teeth as both life and loss.

Hasbun's art was about embracing the questions and mysteries of human existence—the irreconcilable. Her work, a testament to resilience in the face of displacement, will be remembered by many at the International Center of Photography where her survey exhibition took place.