And We Will Still Say Homeland

Photo credits: Sonia Gutiérrez
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Sonia Gutiérrez

1972
Acrylic on canvas
1.69 X 2.92 m

The bodies of a man and a woman lie face down, their feet bound with ropes, their hands tied with torn cloth, stripped of any movement except the fall of their garments. Shoulder to shoulder, their lifeless forms—drawn with bold lines and flat colours against a grey background crossed by a red stripe—evoke the torture and violence endured in Colombia during the 1970s. The artist’s pop aesthetic shields their faces to prevent re-victimisation, expressing solidarity with their pain and tragedy. The title, And We Will Still Say Homeland, questions the sense of belonging to a country where the right to life, enshrined in Article 12 of the Constitution, at times seems like an illusion.