Marmelade
Available for circulation and co-production · info (at) almario (dot) ca
Marmelade: The Supreme is the first version (2018-2021) of Marmelade, a self-destructive installation that invites the public to sit down and taste bread with Colombian jam while a robotic machine systematically destroys mosaic portraits. "Marmelade", and the way it is spread, is a metaphor used by Colombians to speak about corruption within the country's political power.
This version presents seven portraits: the magistrates of Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice who authorized the 2012 arrest of the artist's father. Considered a political prisoner, he spent nine years behind bars on false accusations before his release in 2016. Continuing the -formé series (2013-2016), this version was born of the activist movement through which the artist sought international attention for his father's trial.
Presented three times (Le Lieu, Québec City, 2018; BIECTR, Trois-Rivières, 2019; L'Écart, Rouyn-Noranda, 2021), the version now carries an added weight: since 2023, at least three of the judges represented have themselves been prosecuted for corruption, one of them currently imprisoned and another having fled to Canada. Self-destructive by design, its portraits are produced anew for each presentation, in collaboration with the presenting venue.