THE SURRENDER, THE ASSUMPTION, TRIPTYCH TO THE LOST BULLET
Digital photograph 2008
100 x 177 cm / 100 x 162 cm / 100 x 56 cm
Installation of 5 photographs printed on Hahnemühle 100% cotton paper
In 2008 I was assaulted five times in a period of just four months. Always the same procedure: handing over the wallet and the cell phone. Around that time, a clown-assaulting gang started operating in Guatemala.
I related that experience to the painting of "La Rendición de Breda" by Diego Velázquez, because for me the theme of this painting is defeat and submission, finding a parallel between handing over the keys of a city and handing over a wallet and a cell phone.
The idea was to create a sumptuous image like that of the painting, in a photograph that in reality shows an everyday act and even banal for Guatemalans.
The second photograph tells the following part of the story: the clown-assaultant takes refuge in a monastery to pay penance for his bad deeds, thus achieving acceptance in heaven; however, the victim of the assault finds himself in this monastery of degenerate monks, and kills the clown with a slingshot before he manages to ascend to heaven.
The triptych represents the culmination of the life of the assaulted character, who falls into the arms of his beloved because of a stray bullet.
These images were presented during the 16th Paiz Art Biennial.
