Sopa de Letras
Sofia Junco
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Artist Statement
Mexico is a country with constant socio-political movements. A country in which 10 femicides happen every day, where the government’s abuse of power, corruption and negligence is a part of our daily basis.
I stand as an observer of the remains of these movements in Downtown Mexico. How graffitis made during the feminist strikes a day before, as a demand for answers and justice for the women murdered and their families, get removed to keep monuments clean, as if it is the only thing that matters and as an attempt to obliterate and negate the long history of abuse.
The setting of tents by people demonstrating their rejection towards the current government and the president’s play with the power of iconoclasm to restore cultural sites wanting to mantain his historical and cultural speech instead of attending the complaints.
I used a 35 mm and a stereoscopic camera to achieve the multiple exposures. Filmsoup became a way to emulate the deterioration and exhaustion of the people. Allowing the film to be permeated with not only the substances I was using, such as bleach reminiscing the smell of the chemicals used to erase the graffiti, but also the feelings of impotence and frustration, the words I cannot speak but I can feel.
“Sopa de Letras” is an attempt to materialize all these emotions and thoughts, as a woman, as an observer and as a tired human being, witnessing with my people, the abuse of power from politics and from my government.
2020
