The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, described this Wednesday as a "tribute" to the work 'The Revolution' , which represents the revolutionary Emiliano Zapata naked and with heels, and that has unleashed a homophobic controversy in the country.
"We dedicate this year to the great leader Emiliano Zapata, with all the tributes. That same (in reference to the painting) is a tribute to General Zapata, within the framework of the freedoms that exist and must be guaranteed, " said the president in his morning conference at the National Palace. Zapata appears naked in the painting, with the feminized body, wearing a pink overall and mounted with a sensual pose on a horse with the erect phallus.
Some 200 peasants blocked access to the Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City yesterday and subsequently stormed the premises to demand that the revolutionary painting of the revolutionary, a symbol of peasant resistance in Mexico, be removed .
Shouting "Burn it, burn it!" , the protesters entered the Palace of Fine Arts, the maximum cultural center of Mexico, and threatened to set fire to the work after stating that the image of the revolutionary leader, a peasant from the state of Morelos, is "denigrated".
"I am quite surprised by this violent manifestation ... Why would the feminine have to be a cause of offense?" , the author of the painting, the Chiapas artist Fabián Cháirez, told Radio Fórmula.
The painting is being exhibited at the Palace of Fine Arts on the occasion of the exhibition "Emiliano. Zapata after Zapata", a sample to commemorate the 100 years of the murder of the famous Mexican revolutionary. It was also chosen to be the cover of the sample booklet , which accentuated the controversy.
Although Zapata appears in other works with a mandrel, a broom and a detergent in his hand, or even as if it were a mouse, it has been this interpretation of the naked revolutionary, with feminine features and in heels that has bothered the family and also related groups. His grandson Jorge Zapata warned that he will file a legal action against Chairéz.
The president was convinced that it was said peasant groups - and not the Zapata family - who held the altercation at the Palace of Fine Arts on Tuesday.
López Obrador, a strong defender of Zapata's legacy , said he is not bothered by this work.
"I am a lover of freedom, if I were not president I could be chanting in the streets 'Forbidden to forbid!'. But as president of Mexico I have to seek conciliation and ensure that liberties are not affected, but at the same time listen to everything and there is dialogue, "said the president.
Finally, he condemned the altercations that occurred Tuesday at the National Palace. He acknowledged that he had not seen the work but assured that he will soon do so and explained that he had already urged the Ministry of Culture to seek dialogue between the parties to resolve the controversy.
"The agreement must be sought. But, at the same time, the artists have all the freedom and there can be no censorship," he said.
In more general terms, he also condemned all the "hate crimes" suffered by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual collective in Mexico. "I reprove him with all my soul, and we do not accept this," he said.
Freedom of expression and creation
The Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature condemned in a statement " any act of violence that violates human rights , freedom of expression and creation, because they constitute the deepest form of our democracy."
"Welcome to the discrepancy and the aesthetic and political debate, regarding a work that has raised the threshold of the debate between femininity and masculinity . But we do not accept censorship and violence as weapons of political and artistic pressure," they said.
They added that they respect the opinion of Jorge Zapata "and of all the people who can share his point of view", but argued that "art always has multiple interpretations " and that "it is the right of the visitor to assume the position that is proper to him, but it is also your right to access such diversity. "
Born on August 8, 1879, Zapata was one of the main figures of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 that overthrew the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, and a hero of the peasantry who fought for the collectivization of the lands.
Earlier this year, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared 2019 as the tribute year to Zapata , so all government stationery is named after the leader, who died in an ambush on April 10, 1919.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- Mexico
- art
- culture
CultureThe Bancaja Foundation shows Picasso's persistent desire
Culture The genealogy of art and works by Oppenheim and Barceló, the three arguments of the Picasso Museum Malaga for next year
Culture Reading Day in Andalusia is celebrated on December 16 with the memory of writers who suffered exile