Jos Clemente Orozco

Indias de la serie de los Teles, 1947.

Sharon Jazzan, Ariadna Patio, Paulina Bravo (MUNAL/INBA)

Orozcos painting entitled Indias pertains to a series of 66 pieces devoted to the Conquest (1519-1521), one of
Mexicos most traumatic events. This historical trauma is represented throughout the series by isolated and non-
delimited (in a contextual sense) scenes, as well as a very literal treatment of violence.
The scene in question shows only three discernible elements: two women, whose faces are not detailed,
and a mound of bones. The painting has neither time nor space, we cannot recognize it as a historical event, and
thus it cannot be seized or understood by a historical study. Furthermore, the women have no face thus they
cannot be individualized or possessed, for the eye has no way of seizing the Other who is always changing, and
its remoteness and unwillingness to be defined is its very essence.
The stylistic approach that Orozco chooses has traces of the European movement German
Expressionism. The use of harsh thick lines that contour the figures and elements, as well as the contrasting
palette, recall the rejection of traditional, state-sponsored art. The artist finds directness and frankness in his
style, which only conveys the message of a historical trauma relived in his day-to-day life through the
persistence of the defeated characters.
Although Indias does not give us an exact reference, it does give us some clues as to what exactly the
artist is trying to depict, what part of the trauma he is symbolizing. It is evident that the women in question are
indigenous, and that they are surrounded by bones. Through his representation, he is trying to grasp a part of the
past; a part of history that though not very delimited it is still there in the treatment of the figures and the
presence of death; in a way he is offering a new space for encounter with the Other.
Traumas, as Griselda Pollock states, cannot be represented for, by definition, they do not even exist as a
specific event. They are a Thing that cannot be depicted nor grasped. It is an event that cannot be digested, a
stress passed on to another generation by the one who survived it.
This painting made in 1947, only two years after the liberation of Auschwitz, reflects through its
technique and theme, a true search for understanding and demonstrating the consequences and horrors of the
hatred between races. As Pollock states, through her studies of Ricoeur, art can only exist in Modernity as an art
after/Auschwitz, after the systematized massacre of the races, witnessed in silence by the world, art can only
talk of just that, for humanity was branded for eternity.
The trauma of Auschwitz and the war was present in Orozcos reflections; this can be sustained through
his own words: In the United States there is a profound hatred between racial groups and of Europe it is best
not to say anything. The whole world is shaken and bloodied by the hatred of races. What can be seen in the
artists later works, and specifically in Indias, is the belief in stating the trauma and creating a better society,
one that could transform in art what happened in the camps, in the wars, in the conquests, to put it out in the
world and give it a voice, in Orozcos words: To treat the Indian not as an Indian, but as a man, same as any
other.
The approach Orozco uses, transforms and moves the trauma, making poetically a relief of
signification, a new space of encounter. He creates a whole new order of forms, of scenes, of ways to look at
the event, at the Other, from his non-representation of the face, to his choice of perspective, he shows an-other
that is latent in humanity, and in the society in which he was born.
Thus there is a willingness of encounter, even though this event was culturally transitive, it obviously
still had a ring in Orozcos ear, the vulnerability and atrocities committed in other times, still held a painful and
wounded sight in the artist, in his words: The antagonism of the races is exacerbated. The Conquest of Mexico
by Hernan Cortes and his army seems to have been yesterday. Through his representation, he is opening a
border-space, a place where society in his day, and of course in our day, can wit(h)ness and confront the Other.
Confront the traumas of the past and process them, give them a voice and a form, achieve through art an ethical
approach to life and society today, one that has lived through countless and painful atrocities, but that is still
worth it because it has the ability to lend our own lives to those who suffered.