Miasma takes as a historical and visual source the book La CIA en México (The CIA in Mexico, 1984) by journalist Manuel Buendía to address the espionage and secret operations that high-powered institutions, such as the CIA, develop in an ultra-confidential manner while seeking to maintain their public image as a symbol of protection and national security. Hence the name of the project—composed of a video installation and a poster, as well as the 10 photo sculptures and this series of drawings that are part of the Amparo Museum's collection—refers to miasma as a stench or a repugnant and expansive atmosphere that emanates from what is hidden behind a surface.
The polyptych of nine drawings refers to some of the visual elements that appeared on the original cover of the book in which Buendía, murdered four months after having published his investigation, gave an of the secret operations of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Mexican territory, as well as the incidence of George W.H. Bush in the intelligence service and in the introduction of neoliberalism in Mexico.
From the cover, Okón took the author's last name, the eagle, the word CIA designed with the colors and stars of the American flag, as well as the X of Mexico and the logo of the publishing house that published the book (Océano) to distribute them in nine separate drawings, individually framed, but shown as one piece. On the cover of "The CIA in Mexico" there is a clear allusion to the most deeply rooted patriotic symbols in the United States: on the one hand, the flag and, on the other, the bald eagle that was chosen in 1782 as the official emblem of the nation and that appears on most of the official coats of arms and seals, as was the CIA's coat of arms at least until 2021.
In contrast, the reconfiguration in Okón's drawings points to how unstable or false images can be in their function as symbols, that is, in the discourses, values or ideas they seek to convey, especially when it comes to images whose importance or exposure makes them part of popular and mass culture. Just as Buendía's last name is already associated with the investigation that cost him his life, the flag and the eagle are impregnated in the social imaginary of Americans for whom these symbols represent the honor, strength, courage and protection of a nation even when its institutions carry out illicit and destabilizing operations against foreign governments.
AC, May 2022
Bibliography
Magalí Arriola, “Trading Places” in Frieze, May 2017.
Yoshua Okón, Colateral / Collateral. Mexico City: University Museum of Contemporary Art, 2018.
Miasma takes as a historical and visual source the book La CIA en México (The CIA in Mexico, 1984) by journalist Manuel Buendía to address the espionage and secret operations that high-powered institutions, such as the CIA, develop in an ultra-confidential manner while seeking to maintain their public image as a symbol of protection and national security. Hence the name of the project—composed of a video installation and a poster, as well as the 10 photo sculptures and this series of drawings that are part of the Amparo Museum's collection—refers to miasma as a stench or a repugnant and expansive atmosphere that emanates from what is hidden behind a surface.
The polyptych of nine drawings refers to some of the visual elements that appeared on the original cover of the book in which Buendía, murdered four months after having published his investigation, gave an of the secret operations of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Mexican territory, as well as the incidence of George W.H. Bush in the intelligence service and in the introduction of neoliberalism in Mexico.
From the cover, Okón took the author's last name, the eagle, the word CIA designed with the colors and stars of the American flag, as well as the X of Mexico and the logo of the publishing house that published the book (Océano) to distribute them in nine separate drawings, individually framed, but shown as one piece. On the cover of "The CIA in Mexico" there is a clear allusion to the most deeply rooted patriotic symbols in the United States: on the one hand, the flag and, on the other, the bald eagle that was chosen in 1782 as the official emblem of the nation and that appears on most of the official coats of arms and seals, as was the CIA's coat of arms at least until 2021.
In contrast, the reconfiguration in Okón's drawings points to how unstable or false images can be in their function as symbols, that is, in the discourses, values or ideas they seek to convey, especially when it comes to images whose importance or exposure makes them part of popular and mass culture. Just as Buendía's last name is already associated with the investigation that cost him his life, the flag and the eagle are impregnated in the social imaginary of Americans for whom these symbols represent the honor, strength, courage and protection of a nation even when its institutions carry out illicit and destabilizing operations against foreign governments.
AC, May 2022
