When artist Carlos Viani’s father disappeared in Lima, Peru, in 1978, he left behind little more than a green raincoat, a collection of discarded photographs, and a human skull he had exhumed from the archaeological site of Pachacamac in the 1960s. This disappearance triggered a deeply personal and obsessive search for answers that spanned more than four decades.

In 2015, Carlos received an unexpected email from a coroner in Orange County, California, informing him of his father’s recent death. In that moment, Carlos realized that, in many ways, his father had already “found” him while he had been tirelessly searching for traces of him. Before his death, his father had made meticulous arrangements to ensure Carlos would be contacted and informed of his passing.

For Next of Kin, Carlos adopts a transdisciplinary approach that intertwines archival research with borrowed forensic methods, challenging notions of trace, identity, and family memory. He engages in a creative process that merges diverse sources, materials, and media, producing a body of work that explores the tension between fact and fiction. This methodology incorporates archival research, personal data and object collection, photographic documentation, and printed interviews, each element working together to disrupt traditional storytelling conventions.

Coupled with a redacted work of short fiction, a video performance, two photo series, three installations, and a photo book, this experimental investigation attempts to shed light—however incomplete—on the shadowy details of his father’s secret life in Southern California. Developed against the backdrop of loss and diaspora, the project has allowed Carlos to make sense of a life-altering event that became a decades-long obsession. At its core, the work reflects a universal experience that resonates across cultures and histories: the enigma and lasting impact of the estranged father.