2013
California-Pacific Triennial

Curated by Dan Cameron
Orange County Museum of Art
30 June - 17 November
featuring CARPAS by Hugo Crosthwaite

LAS CARPAS  |  installation  |   press  |  statement

EL PELADO  |  MISS BALA  |  LA NARIZONA

Miss Bala, or Miss Bullet, presents the character of the “Damsel in Distress” as an image of a Beauty Queen: a young schoolgirl being held up by menacing figures who represent the narco-violence that has spread throughout the northern states of Mexico. The image is loosely based on a real incident, in which 2008’s Miss Sinaloa, Laura Zúñiga, was arrested with suspected gang members in a truck filled with munitions outside Guadalajara, Jalisco.

The composition mirrors those of heroic historical paintings such as Delacroix’s “Victory Leading the People”, but in this instance, an image of innocence is held aloft and carried off by violence, death and desperation. In the traditional role of the threatened maiden, this innocence needs to be saved from menacing, corrupt and violent forces.