Victoria Sobre El Sol
A found mirror was used to reflect sunlight onto Guatemala's Coat of Arms, prominently displayed on the facades of three government buildings in Guatemala City: Palacio de la Policía Nacional, Palacio de Comunicaciones, and Palacio Nacional de la Cultura. Built during the authoritarian regime of Jorge Ubico Castañeda (1931–1944)—a period marked by state-driven infrastructure projects designed to centralize power through monumental architecture—these public structures relied heavily on coerced labor drawn from Indigenous and rural populations under the Vagrancy Law (Ley de Vagancia), widely recognized today as a historical instrument of repression and exploitation, particularly targeting Indigenous and rural populations.
First enacted in 1878 under President Justo Rufino Barrios, the Vagrancy Law criminalized individuals without a recognized profession or means of subsistence, targeting those deemed detrimental to public morals and order. Under Jorge Ubico’s regime, the law was reinstated and expanded through Decree 1996, intensifying labor obligations and requiring all men to carry proof of regular employment or land ownership. Those who failed to do so were subjected to forced labor, often conscripted into public work such as roads and buildings. The law served as a mechanism to secure a steady labor force for the state, particularly benefiting the coffee and banana industries, and was disproportionately applied to Indigenous populations. Within Jorge Ubico’s broader authoritarian agenda, the Vagrancy Law also enforced labor discipline and suppressed dissent.
In a reversal of the gaze, the sun’s punishing force—once endured by conscripted laborers under the state’s whip—is now directed against the very symbols of authoritarian control and the coercive foundations upon which these monuments to power were built, reasserting agency over state infrastructure while confronting obscured histories of repression, authoritarian control, and the violent origins of national identity.
Year: 2017
Medium: Single-Channel Video, color, sound
Resolution: 16:9 Full HD, 1920 x 1080 px
Duration: 00:05:52, 30 fps
Direction: Jason Mena
Camera: Pablo López Monzón
Assistance: Jorge Linares, Marlov Barrios, Joss Pinto, MANIFESTO-espacio
Dimensions: Variable
Editions: 3 + A/P