Abstract
In the Mexican capital of Oaxaca state, street artists were very active during the 2006 occupation of the city, demanding the resignation of the state governor. They formed an assembly that survived the end of the political uprising. Street-level democracy appears surprisingly resilient. Artists are deeply involved any time the social movements are reactivated, but there is no interaction with the authorities. Oaxaca qualifies as an “authoritarian enclave,” where participatory practices are almost non-existent. Street artists alternate between active involvement in such movements and indifference to them coupled with dedication to their business.
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Notes
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Oaxaca is both a state and a city. Oaxaca’s capital city is called Oaxaca de Juárez, in honor of Benito Juárez, a nineteenth-century president and national hero born in the state.
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The six demands were centered on freedom of expression and repression.
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See his excellent Wikipedia notice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Manrique.
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My translation of “Los nuevos productores de imágenes que deseamos construir un moderno arte público, nos encontramos hoy ante la deformación de los conceptos fundamentales del muralismo revolucionario mexicano. Existen sólo balbuceos aislados que no ofrecen ninguna solución a los actuales conflictos culturales que vivimos: y a pesar de existir una sobreabundancia de tendencias, no se ha logrado rectificar el rumbo creativo y social del muralismo mexicano. La confusión general respecto a la lucha de tendencias y la pérdida de las bases teóricas que dieron coherencia al muralismo del pasado, son los principales obstáculos que encontramos ante la tarea de edificar un nuevo arte auténticamente colectivo”.
“Estamos convencidos de que el muralismo mexicano fue perdiendo el impulso que lo caracterizó en sus buenos momentos, principalmente por falta de conciencia crítica y autocrítica de sus más grandes representantes, quienes cedieron paulatinamente ante el encanto de la ‘celebridad personalista’ de que fueron objeto, olvidando que dicho movimiento existía de todos sus animadores una profunda conciencia social y colectiva, y no esa embriaguez individualista que ha retardado la consecuente madurez artística y social del mismo”.
“Por lo tanto, los pintores, escultores y grabadores que deseamos construir un nuevo arte colectivo, acorde con los momentos históricos que vivimos, hemos decidido cimentar nuestros lineamientos teóricos y prácticos de manera diferente a los muralistas del pasado. Son las nuevas bases las que habrán de generar un nuevo arte colectivo” (source: https://www.proceso.com.mx/4886/un-taller-para-la-investigacion-plastica).
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Transcript of their intervention http://www.milenio.com/cultura/discurso-leyo-avelina-lesper-debate-grafiteros.
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Interview on 15 June 2017 at his home in San Francisco Tutla.
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A continuity he explores in his book (Aquino 2011).
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Smek (Javier Santos, born in 1985) graduated from Mexico City’s school of painting and went on working as a visual artist in Oaxaca. A member of the crew Arte Jaguar, he attained some fame painting national hero Benito Juarez’ head with a punk hairstyle (Franco Ortiz 2011).
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Source: http://sic.gob.mx/ficha.php?table=gpo_artistico&table_id=1063&disciplina= (my translation).
- 17.
In her thesis, Franco Ortiz (2011) provides a complete panorama of all these collectives after 2006. See also the documentary El Muro (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL1ysLDHFBc).
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Interviews on 5 and 9 June 2017.
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Interview on 9 June 2017.
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I actually interviewed them three times: 12 June 2017, 6 December 2018 and 28 May 2019.
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Lapiztola is (in Spanish) an association between two words: lapiz (pencil) and pistola (revolver). It suggests the use of drawing as a firearm. I interviewed them twice in Oaxaca, on 6 June 2017 and 6 December 2018.
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The third one is Yankel Balderas, an artist and architect, and a lifetime friend of Roberto’s.
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The text said: “Brothers and sisters, let’s open our heart like a flower waiting for a morning sunray, let’s plant dreams and harvest hope and remember that this construction can only be done from below, from the left, and where the heart lies.” My translation of “Hermanos, hermanas, abramos el corazón como una flor que espera el rayo del sol por las mañanas, sembremos sueños y cosechemos esperanzas, recordando que esa construcción sólo se puede hacer abajo, a la izquierda y del lado del corazón.”
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National Action Party (PAN); Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD); Labor Party (PT).
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Author of “El fraude del arte contemporaneo” (online https://www.avelinalesper.com).
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A very rude expression I do not dare to translate.
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Avenila Lésper read a text that can be found online (http://www.milenio.com/cultura/discurso-leyo-avelina-lesper-debate-grafiteros).
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On the issue of world heritage and the consequence of such labeling, see Chapter 5 on Valparaíso.
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“Oaxaca buried by visual contamination.”
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Collective discussion on 13 June 2017.
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Interview on 5 June 2017.
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Interview on 9 June 2017.
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Interview on 14 June 2017.
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Movimiento de regeneración nacional (National Regeneration Movement) elected leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as president on 1 July 2018.
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Mescal is an alcoholic beverage made from agave. Oaxaca is by far the main producer in Mexico.
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In charge of restoration. Interview on 10 June 2017. I attended the December 2018 debate. That was a great opportunity to catch up and further discuss public space appropriation and governance.
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Dabène, O. (2020). Oaxaca: Revolutionary Art and the (Difficult) Quest for Democracy. In: Street Art and Democracy in Latin America. Studies of the Americas. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26913-5_6
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