Armed to the teeth

Video 2:51 min.

Verónica appeals directly to other women through the loudspeakers of her social networks, to the women around her, to the artists, to the other mothers, to the other daughters. In a colloquial jargon typical of the environment, with that publicly the usual need to feel protected when walking alone in the middle of nature or when returning home at night. Women all over the world feel this instinctive fear as the heavy shadow of sexual assault constantly looms over them, and they often place a certain amount of trust in some object that magically becomes a defensive weapon. A stone in his pocket, some keys held like a knife. Through hundreds of comments, the women who felt challenged respond from their experience, from the sadness of the everyday life of these diverse and in some cases unusual objects of self-defense. Some of these objects have been deposited here as archaeological vestiges of the immediate present of women who, day after day, walk insecurely through the world.

The video creation piece Armed to the Teeth acts as a situational preamble to the entire exhibition, since it shows the attitude of empowerment that will run through each room. The projection, which occupies the main wall of the room in panoramic format, envelops and overwhelms us in equal measure. Here we find a hieratic Verónica Ruth Frías who assumes a disturbing position over the viewer, armed with a double-barreled hunting shotgun and ready to shoot at any moment. The scene provokes a timeless and monotonous atmosphere, which is fostered by the frontal, static pose and the deafening landscape absolutely occupied by the monotonous stridulation of the cicadas, which make us think of a suffocating heat. It is paradoxical that the sound of vulgar male cicadas comes from mundane intentions such as marking territory for their drivers or sexually attracting females. In the middle of that omnipresent and sonorous nature, Verónica points and returns to a guard position; Place your feet apart on the floor, ensure good body balance and keep your arms and trunk free for an eventual necessary turn. Systematically, he takes aim and rearms his guard. Everything seems to alert us to that uncertainty about the possibility of the shot, which somehow resonates in the viewer's mind. Sit your feet apart on the floor, ensure good body balance and keep your arms and trunk free for an eventual necessary turn. Systematically, he takes aim and rearms his guard. Everything seems to alert us to that uncertainty about the possibility of the shot, which somehow resonates in the viewer's mind.

Pedro Alarcon