The Colombian artist exhibits in Madrid his famous work alongside new ones in an exhibition that goes through the bodies affected by war and landmines.

In the beautiful and precise Spanish spoken in Colombia, a "quiebrapatas" is an anti-personnel mine, a terrifying weapon that, rather than killing, seeks the dismemberment of bodies and the consequent terror for those who contemplate it. This is the explanation of artist Miguel Angel Rojas (Bogota, 77 years old), who is currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of his David (2005), a plea against violence and war, a world-famous work in which, in the manner of Michelangelo Buonarroti's famous sculpture, Rojas portrays a beautiful young farmer whose right leg has been torn off by a landmine. The photograph is the centerpiece of the exhibition entitled Quiebramales, which can be seen at the Madrid venue of La Cometa gallery until April 20.

Miguel Angel Rojas has traveled this March from Bogota to Madrid to see his work shown, to take a tour around Arco, even though he had no work exhibited this year, and to see some exhibitions at the Prado and the Reina Sofia, museums that have acquired pieces by this artist in their annual purchases.

Two decades after David's first presentation, the work retains the same strength and continues to have the same impact as it did at the beginning. For Colombians, says Rojas during a conversation with EL PAÍS, "this work is the image that represents a conflict that has lasted more than six decades and in which the civilian population accounts for more than 80% of the dead".

The boy in the photograph is José Antonio Ramos, a lieutenant who was 15 years old when he agreed to pose naked and mutilated for the artist.  The result is eight black and white photographs measuring two meters by one meter.

How did the soldier react and what were those sessions like? "When I asked him to pose like the famous Renaissance sculpture, he had no notion of what David was. I thought: how is it possible that this white boy, from an Antioquian family, with no schooling, has ended up as army fodder? On the other hand, there was me, a mestizo of peasant origin, but thanks to my parents I was able to go to school. I concluded that education makes the difference. Knowledge is more important than skin color".

Rojas' extensive work uses conceptual language to talk about the themes that have marked his life: violence and homosexuality. "My parents came from Tolima, in the center of the country. They moved to Bogotá and that's where I was born, in 1946, two years before the Bogotazo, the conflict unleashed by the assassination of liberal leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitán, on April 9, 1948. In just two days, 40% of the city's buildings were destroyed. We fled that horror and settled in Girardot, a town in Cundinamarca, until I turned 11 and was sent as a border with the Jesuits in Bogota.

Homosexuality

He has no bad memories of the religious order. "I have a Christian formation in the sense that what is important is one's own life and that of others. All my thoughts are expressed through art. The language of art is my therapy. I am an emerging class homosexual with concerns very common to all Colombians and all the inhabitants of the planet: who is not concerned about violence, deforestation, the drug business, discrimination? We are very well served in Colombia".

In the exhibition, very crude in its images, there are proposals for redemption and that is where the generic title of the show: Quiebramales could fit in. The piece entitled Caquetá (2007) is made up of a single-channel video and two prosthetic prostheses.
single-channel video and two orthopedic prostheses. Rojas films a young soldier cleaning the camouflage of his face with the stumps left from his forearms.

On the floor is a 12-letter word formed with graphite pencils, placed in such a way that the viewer thinks of mines semi-hidden or camouflaged with a false appearance. The word is Quiebramales. On a large wooden table is displayed a delicate piece titled “Lee y multiplica” (2013-2019). It consists of two math and writing notebooks lined with mambe and silver foil. The artist once again stresses the importance of education as the only legitimate weapon to rescue Colombians and “quebrar el mal” which translates to “breaking the evil”.

Two decades after those photographs, Rojas is still aware of David's life: "We paid him quite well and he invested the money in a piece of land where he built a house and lives with his family. His wife is a teacher and they have a child who will have no problem getting an education, which makes me very happy.

To Venice

In addition to the Madrid exhibition, Rojas is very happy because a series of his photographs will be part of the central exhibition of the Venice Biennale, which opens on April 20 and this year has been curated by Adriano Pedrosa. “The title is Strangers Everywhere and on this occasion works have been chosen, not artists. Mine are part of a series I did in the eighties and nineties in cinemas and theaters when the lights went out and double projections began on the screens. A life that could not be seen outdoors also began in the seats".
Within these photographs float the repressed homosexuality, the excesses of the night and the drug trafficking that has cost Colombia so many lives. And in one way or another, these issues have not been resolved. Especially that of cocaine. "In the Escobar years, they were in production and distribution, but they did not stimulate domestic consumption. When trafficking shifted to Mexico and the United States, the Colombian cartels did not disappear. They transformed themselves and saw that there was also a market within the country. A never-ending drama.