Palimpsests, 2009
A palimpsest is a manuscript that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing being completely erased each time. Maite Centol has practiced this form of overwriting and erasure on a number of walls in Asturias, Sweden, Chile and, in the case of this video, in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico. The work makes reference to the lack and the poverty behind migration and the economic downturn, phenomena inextricably bound to the contemporary capitalist society. The artist paints a long wall by the railway tracks as immigrants jump onto the so-called train of death. This railway line transports not just goods, but also citizens from Central America hoping to get to the United States on a journey that will confront them with the systematic violation of their human rights.
