“Quiebramales” commemorates the twentyyear conception of the David Quiebramales project. The exhibition revisits the biopolitics that permeate the bodies affected by war, the structures that construct (and destroy) a society, and education as a path to social justice.

In 2004, Colombian artist Miguel Ángel Rojas photographically documented several columns in a popular roadside restaurant. These columns were molded to resemble the undulations of metal roof tiles, resulting in a structure of classical inspiration. The proportions were imprecise, and the manufacturing was rudimentary —an incomplete expression of a historical moment in Western architecture—. For the artist, this imperfect construction symbolized a vernacular reading of the layers of Colombian society. This led him to contemplate the most cultured academic example of the country’s architecture. Thus, he conducted a photography session at the National Capitol, a prime example of classical and neoclassical roots in institutional architecture. The photograph “Left-Right” (2006) captures the encounter between the popular and neoclassical columns, framing the submerged legs of a young soldier. This serves as a commentary on how societal supports and institutions impact the physical foundation of the popular body.

Rojas’ workshop was situated near the Military Hospital of Bogotá, a place that, during the 1980s and early 1990s, received hundreds of wounded and mutilated soldiers due to landmines and Explosive Remnants of War. In military strategies, incorporating these devices in roads and rural areas, intended to maim and incapacitate, hindered the enemy’s advance and undermined their tactical capacity. Through “Caquetá” (2007), a single-channel video and orthopedic prosthetics, the artist presents a young soldier cleaning the camouflage from his face with what remains of his forearms, depicting a harrowing scene. In an armed conflict that conditioned the lives of individuals without prospects for six decades, the destruction of the social tissue was immeasurable, and mutilation became its defining image.

Rojas’ workshop was situated near the Military Hospital of Bogotá, a place that, during the 1980s and early 1990s, received hundreds of wounded and mutilated soldiers due to landmines and Explosive Remnants of War. In military strategies, incorporating these devices in roads and rural areas, intended to maim and incapacitate, hindered the enemy’s advance and undermined their tactical capacity. Through “Caquetá” (2007), a single-channel video and orthopedic prosthetics, the artist presents a young soldier cleaning the camouflage from his face with what remains of his forearms, depicting a harrowing scene. In an armed conflict that conditioned the lives of individuals without prospects for six decades, the destruction of the social tissue was immeasurable, and mutilation became its defining image. returning and deformed image, fascinating and terrible at the same time, speaks of something more significant and the initial questioning that gave rise to “Los Estudios del David” (2004) and “Primaria” (2004- 2024), where photography blends with remnants of a landmine: social inequality and lack of education are the genesis of evil.

The work is completed with “Quiebramales” (2004-2024), a twelve-letter word made with graphite pencils. Its placement again evokes anti-personnel mines (known in Colombia as “quiebrapatas”), but its purpose now is not the annihilation of will but the regeneration of thought. “Lee y multiplica” (2013-2019), two notebooks of mathematics and writing covered with mambe and silver leaf on a table, emphasize the importance of education over weapons. For fighters, the decision to join armed groups is mediated by aspects such as their permanent condition of vulnerability, difficulties in developing their identity, victimization caused by armed conflict, non-recognition as a social group, and the inability to access basic conditions and an educational system that allows them to break free from the chains of poverty.

Miguel Ángel Rojas confronts violence and education as opposites of the same system, turning its tools into conscious control mechanisms. He calls on us to break the structures that perpetuate inequity and reproduce patterns that have led us down a sinister path.