The Sons Of Drugs And Violence

The image provides a generalized idealization of narco-(bio)-literature and the focuses of my doctoral research. Narco-media is an important phenomenon that is part of a nation's national and international “identity”. This particular image explores the objectification of an exotic/plastic woman's body as part of a stylized form of sexual slavery and prostitution that ranges from young girls (grillas) to beauty queens and models. It also represents the suffering of the Colombian nation that bleeds in the background, and portrays as a frontier the joining of blood with the blooming of a poppy field. Additionally, the image has a traditional druglord dealer holding cocaine, dressed in black as a figure of death, and showing his role as political and economical leader who has two sicarios (paid-killers) by his side. The young sicarios are a mockery of the syncretism between religion (escapularies) and drug violence/poverty (guns). Lastly, the image shows the social and geographical presence of the foreign with the Colombian nation. The dollars and the red truck represent how Colombia's identity is shaped by international influences, as part of a new colonization or exploitation under the control of a rich drug dealer. // Award: People's Choice Award // Program of Study: Spanish and Latin American Studies // Faculty/Department: Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, MLCS // Place of creation: Edmonton, Alberta