B’OKO’ CITY OF WALLS

For over 4 years, I have dedicated my artistic practice to the analysis and investigation of the anthropological and social phenomena that has shaped the Guatemalan highlands, a territory that for the past 500 years has been invaded, attacked, colonized, imprisoned, affected by natural disasters and manipulated by different power figures; The Guatemalan highlands define our nation in many complex but obvious ways.

Since the early 2000s, the Chimaltenango community has been affected by an untimely event, the leadership of the Guatemalan prison system decides to separate the 2 most important gangs in the country (MS13 and 18) from other prisoners and begins an improvised experiment, they transfer more than 500 members of the 18 gang to an unfinished prison.

This action/invasion completely alters the reality of a fragile ecosystem, Chimaltenango is one of the most densely populated areas in the country and one of the most important business centers in the highlands, it has repercussions on issues from poverty, underdevelopment, malnutrition, violence to prostitution.

My project focuses on the investigation of this phenomenon, as the life dynamics of a community completely changes with the arrival of this prison, the concepts of economy, mobility, safety, space and time are completely transformed by a hasty, unplanned, and a poorly executed decision without any impact analysis.