In Edison Penafiel’s black and white multi screen video titled ¡Correlé, correlé, correlá, Por aquí, por aquí, por allá, Correlé, correlé, correlá, Correlé que te van a matar! (Run, run, run, Over here, over here, over there, Run, run, run, Run, 'cause they are going to kill you!) the premise is simple: masked, naked people who are completely covered with broad strokes of paint shuffle within the confines of their video screens. They do nothing more than breathe and sigh before the camera, as the dour, animated background jerks and shifts. While the title promises action, what Penafiel delivers is mundane—and effective for it. With television, the drama is behind the screen. Penafiel’s work reverses the relation of viewer to subject. The figures—with their masks’ unblinking eyes—are the audience, staring into our color filled world of comfort. Its success as a political video is that it allows us to feel our privilege and empathize with those from another world. As an artwork, it unites the sensibilities of Walt Disney and Francisco Goya—in a good and uneasy way.

Excerpt from Juror’s Statement by James Hyde