In the latest exposition by the conceptual artist Carlos Amorales, the artist compiled real and disturbing images of victims of the war on drugs in Mexico. In this work, the artists created a photo novel with the raw and graphic images of from the corpses (or remaining body parts) that result from this war. This novel includes 15 pages filled with images of decapitated bodies laying on the floor, to limbless torsos, and skinned heads. These images seem to follow a sequence and seem to talk to one another through speech bubbles, but the language written is indescribable. The artist, during an interview, explained that he used an encrypted nonexistent language to purposely reflect how far away we are from understanding/rationalizing this war that has taken more than 17,000 lives thus far in this year alone. In this piece, Carlos Amorales wants to make the spectator aware of the reality of this situation, he uses these images in order to push the spectators’ morbid curiosity to the limit. During an interview discussing the morality of this project, which he agrees is questionable, he expressed that “the macabre aspect of these images awakens a sense of shame similar to the one that is awakened by hard-core pornography”, and he also commented on his conflicted view about the readily accessibility to these images, which he was able to obtain from different newspapers in Mexico. When discussing the process and the art piece, he admitted that he felt a sense of relief when he finished the project, and while putting it together he worked in the dark and privately as if he was keeping a dark secret, out of shame and fear of being “caught”.
-Responding to “The Language of the Death, a photographic narrative on the Mexican drug cartels war”-displaying impacting images that reflect on the reality that is drug cartels. The idea that explicit images portray a similar reaction to that of pornography signifies an act of shame, but also an act of fear. Fear of the reality that comes from living in countries where executions are an every-day occurrence. Carlos Amorales allows the images to speak the truth of drug wars and I am glad he sets out to include real victims in his images, rather than replicas of the occurrences. I agree that such horrific images help increase people’s awareness, and I further believe the encrypted non-existing language helps the viewer reflect on such homicides that have taken the place of targeted executions. I hope more people feel the need to showcase such work.