¡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’re going to kill you ]
Multichannel video installation
8 - 10 minutes variable
Dimensions Variable
2016
¡Correlé, correlé, correlá!... is a multimedia installation that tells the stories of journeys through graphic, black-and-white triptychs displayed in side-by-side multiscreen video. The triptychs present the simultaneous telling of the beginning, middle, and end of each journey, creating a sense of a never-ending passage, an ongoing effect of previous struggles. Some sequences lack the ending frame, suggesting either a journey yet to end or one that has ended in transit, leaving the travelers trapped in a state of limbo.
The travelers in the videos appear naked yet masked, their vulnerable form of display contrasting with the stultifying form of cover. The mask adds a layer of anonymity and uniformity, emphasizing the universality of the migrant experience. The travelers are portrayed as both passive subjects and active observers, watching the viewer with the unblinking eyes of their masks, breaking through the frame and into the world, seeing the reactions to their plight.
The images in the videos are accompanied by a soundscape that rises and falls with the breath, marking the physical and psychological state of the characters in each section of the story. The conflicting states and fractured timelines create a sense of disorientation and uncertainty, reflecting the experience of migrants who must navigate an unfamiliar and often hostile environment.
The title of the installation refers to the Chilean protest song “El Aparecido” by Victor Jara, who was executed during Augusto Pinochet’s coup against the Allende government. The title's insistence on movement creates a tension with the speed of the movement portrayed in the videos, and the song’s particular origins are then expanded on, being used to comment on many different contemporary routes of escape: Mexico to the US, the Middle East and Africa to Europe, and so on. The installation begins to reveal one central story of escape in our time, emerging from the many tales presented.
By portraying the journeys of migrants in a multimedia installation, ¡Correlé, correlé, correlá!... sheds light on the complex and often harrowing experiences of those who must leave their homes in search of a better life. The installation invites viewers to empathize with the travelers, to see them not just as anonymous masses, but as individuals with their own stories and struggles.
EXHIBITIONS
27TH UNIVERSITY EXHIBITION
Juried by James Hyde
Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL
May 20 - August 14, 2016
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