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"El
Salvador Presente"
(El Salvador is Present)
Mark Vallen 1994
Lithograph - 14" x 18"
Artist's
statement:
"Two
years after El Salvador's civil war ended in 1992,
I would create my drawing, El Salvador Presente,
a visual summation of my attitude towards that Central
American nation's long conflict. "Presente" (Present),
is a word called out after the name of someone deceased
is mentioned, it is a way of acknowledging that the
person's spirit is still with us. My drawing carries
a reference to the slain Archbishop Romero, murdered
by a right-wing death squad - his name emblazoned
on a cross carried by the demonstrators I depicted.
In
1994 my drawing was published as a front cover for
the independent political journal, CrossRoads,
along with the following statement from me:
'Over
the years I have learned many invaluable lessons from
the Salvadoran people - lessons concerning what it
means to love and sacrifice for a community, about
the indispensability of culture in that struggle,
lessons regarding faith and irrepressible human spirit.
This work expresses the gratitude and indebtedness
I feel for receiving these gifts.'
Without
a doubt the war in El Salvador changed the face of
America, some 2 million Salvadoreños now live in the
U.S., with most of them calling L.A. home. It may
appear that my drawing portrays a scene from a Salvadoran
city like Chalatenango, Soyapango, or Zacatecoluca,
but in actuality all of my models were Salvadoreños
found on the streets of Los Angeles."
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on how to purchase
a copy of this print.
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