Gabriela León
Sunday Walk to the Zocalo of Oaxaca
About the Artwork
Barricade Dress, 2006
Wire, rubber, leather
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist
The barricada dress is displayed opposite the video, Paseo Dominical por el zocalo / Sunday Walk to the Zocalo of Oaxaca, depicting LeÛnís walk to the zocalo during which she wears the dress. Her one-day video production began November 19, 2006, when the federal police started forming their camp on the main square of Oaxaca. Protestors assembled in front of Santo Domingo church. Civilians walked peacefully between both territories. LeÛn, in the guise of Nuestra SeÒora de las barricadas (Our Lady of the Barricades) started walking from Santo Domingo church toward the Zocalo and Alameda, appropriating the reality of the protest in the video. The dress is made from pieces of the barricades used by protestors to control the streets. The necklace was made out of barbed wire, the corset and the mini skirt were made from shards of tire treads, and the long skirt was made from the bare metal frame of a burned out mattress.
Paseo Dominical por el zocalo / Sunday Walk to the Zocalo of Oaxaca, 2006
Single-channel video
Running time: 5 minutes, 13 seconds
Courtesy of the artist
The video presents a photo sequence of LeÛnís performed action of a peaceful walk between two territories: one revealing the vulnerability of the protestors, living in their improvised camp siteótents made out of plastic, sticks and stones ready to defend themselves, and hundreds of hand painted postersómany now fallen to the ground. The other territory revealed the well armed Federal Police, professionally organized with a complement of tanks, riot gear; medical support, kitchen and barber shop, surrounded by prostitutes who offered their services at wholesale prices. Only a few blocks separated the two camps sites, where there were several confrontations. Presented as a rock music videoóas fiction, an absurd realityóthe situation seemed like the set of a movie where the actors were called to represent the fiction of them playing out their real situation.
Oscar Javier Martinez (a.k.a. Oxama)
Pequeño paseo, 2007
Single-channel audio installation
(Indoor/outdoor)
Running time: 5 minutes
Courtesy of the artist
León commissioned Oscar Javier Martinez (a.k.a. Oxama) to create an audio work that incorporates elements that correspond to different moments lived during the conflict in Oaxaca City between June and November 2006. Some of this sounds were recorded live, some others were taken from different videos made by anonymous local people, and other elements were fragments of transmissions from radio stations taken by the APPO (Popular Assemble of Oaxaca People) and the teacherís union. Some of the sentences you hear in the audio:
°Lets start other fires!
°Lets put a car there!
°Throw it from the roof, from the roof!
°They are throwing it with their hands!
°At this moment the PFP helicopters are throwing tear gas because they canít stop the people who are gathering now...!
°He's hurt, he's hurt!
At this moment we are asking them to bring back our companions. Those helicopters they used to take them should be used to bring them back. This is an ultimatum; the people from Oaxaca wonít tolerate more abuse and repression, no more...
Barricade series, 2007
Rust and soot on paper
36 x 26 inches each (sixteen)
Courtesy of the artist
León came to Oaxaca as an artist working with fine art paper. In this exhibition, she has created series of monoprints that were made from elements / evidence that were dislodged during the violence, such as barbed wire, mattress springs, and the metal fabric left from burned tires, and then imprinting their images on handmade paper, with the carbon soot and rust residues acting as the ink. In the lower corners of the prints, a map is displayed showing the location where the materials were found.
The City Belongs to Us series, 2007
Digital photo print
11x14 inches each (fifteen)
Courtesy of the artist
This is a series of fifteen photographs that LeÛn shot from a recent incident on July 16, 2007. This incident occurred during the Guelaguetza, or Los lunes del Cerro (The Mondays of the Hill), an annual cultural celebration that takes place in the city of Oaxaca. The celebration dates back to pre-Columbian times and remains a defining characteristic of Oaxacan culture. Communities from within the state of Oaxaca gather to present their regional culture in the form of music, costumes, dances, and food. The celebration takes place on consecutive Mondays at the end of July in the city's open-air amphitheater that was built into the "Cerro del FortÌn", a hill that overlooks central Oaxaca. The word Guelaguetza comes from the Zapotec language and means "reciprocal exchanges of gifts and services." The incident occurred because the governor decided to start charging the communities to gather for the event. The people then protested that the important cultural event was being taken away from them. However, their protest was repressed with violence, following on the heels of the same reaction to the teacher unionís strike the previous summer 2006.
Gabriela León, with Asaro and Arte Jaguar
Banners, 2007
Spray paint and acrylic on cloth
64 x 74 inches each (sixteen)
Courtesy of the artists
León has commissioned the Oaxacan-based artist collectives, Asaro and Arte Jaguar, to create eight banners each that incorporate the graffiti stencils that they have applied to the walls in the streets of Oaxaca since the uprising began in June 2006. The installation of the banners in the gallery is meant to reflect the use of tarps by protestors to create temporary living structures while they occupied the streets and the zocalo.
Resistencia Visual, 2007
Videos curated by Isabel Rojas
Video compilation, volumes 1 and 2
Courtesy of the artists
Ana Santos
Bruno Varela
Carlos Franco
Corrugated Films
Gabriela León
Héctor Ballesteros
Juan Robles
Lucero González
Luna Maran
Mal de ojo TV
Nadja Massun
The videos captures the unprecedented phenomenon that emerged when tens of thousands of school teachers, housewives, indigenous communities, health workers, farmers, and students organized, mobilized, and ultimately defend their grassroots struggle for social, cultural, and economic justice. The two-volume video compilations include both artist responses and testimonials from people on the street.