From ethnographic observations and analyses of artworks (Memorial to the Victims in Mexico, the Absence Monument, a Day of the Dead, two anti-monuments, the collective project Footprints of Memory), this article offers a critical reflection in artistic engagement with the subject of memory and mass disappearances in Mexico. Unlike official memories, artistic expressions emerging from civil society offer an alternative and collective memory art which redefines protest art and gives a new role to artists, who are engaged in a political and ethical approach that is close to the victims and resonates like an outcry abroad Mexico.