A photo exhibit set to open next week offers "a compelling look at political violence in Peru between 1980 and 2000."

Yuyanapaq, comprising 40 photographs from a larger exhibition organized by the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2003, "sheds light on the human dimensions of a war-torn society," a news release states. The exhibit highlights the violent impact of the Shining Path guerrilla movement and the Peruvian state's reaction.

The "striking and touching photos" were shown for the first time in the United States last month, at the University of Oregon. Oregon and UC Davis cooperated to bring the exhibit from Bilbao, Spain.

The exhibit at UC Davis is sponsored by the university's Hemispheric Institute on the Americas. The institute's director is Chuck Walker, an associate professor of history, and he is scheduled to give a talk during an opening reception for Yuyanapaq.

The reception and talk are scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center, where the exhibit is set to run through April 1.

Walker said the exhibit title, Yuyanapaq, means "to remember" in Quechua, the language of the Inca empire and still widely spoken in the Peruvian, Bolivian and Ecuadorian Andes.

Walker, who has published widely on Peruvian history, teaches an Andean history seminar in Cuzco, Peru, as part of UC Davis' Summer Sessions International.