In You I Trust

Photo credits: María Alejandra Muñoz
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María Alejandra Muñoz

2010
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas.
70 x 50 cm

Is this kitsch portrayal of Álvaro Uribe as a saint a satire or a historical paradox? Muñoz creates a symbiosis between the politician and the Catholic devotion to the physical heart of Jesus Christ. The work challenges two acts of President Uribe. On one hand, on 19 June 2009, he renewed Law 1 of 1952, which consecrated Colombia to the Sacred Heart of Jesus—a law declared unconstitutional for violating the principle of secularism of the State. On the other hand, he sought presidential re-election through the referendum enshrined in Article 40 of the Political Constitution. The Constitutional Court’s ruling C-141 of 2009, developing the principle of separation of powers and constitutional review, declared the re-election unconstitutional despite the authority of its proponent.