La Mano Blanca, 1979
Luis Cruz Azacetaexpand_more
Colored pencil and ink on paperexpand_more
Gift of Mary and Bob Merskyexpand_more 2020.96.55
Not on Viewexpand_more
Luis Cruz Azaceta’s La Mano Blanco, addresses the political violence that has plagued parts of Central and South America for generations. The drawing’s title and graphic content references the Guatemalan right-wing, anti-communist “death squad” Movimiento de Acción Nacionalista Organizado (Movement of Organized Nationalist Action), better known as Mano Blanco (White Hand). Mano Blanco was responsible for the kidnapping, torture, and extrajudicial murder of thousands of people in rural Guatemala. These so-called counterterrorist operations received support from the Guatemalan army and government, as well as from the United States government.
Reflecting on his creative approach, Azaceta explained: “The rapid state of change in the world at large—the environment, collapsing economies, greed, war, revolution, terrorism—a point where individual citizens are rising against political, economic and social injustices is at hand. Through art I confront this reality. My intention is to create compassion. The vehicle for compassion is the aesthetic that draws one into looking closely at what are, perhaps, sometimes horrific subjects and embracing them.”
Details
- Title
- La Mano Blanca
- Artist Life
- American (born Cuba), born 1942
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2020.96.55
- Provenance
- The artist, New York; [George Adams Gallery, New York, sold to Mersky, July 2020]: Robert B. Mersky, Minneapolis; given to MIA, 2020.
- Curator Approved
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