Yara Pina
covenant sacrifice (2019)
machete crushed on rubble of the Court of Justice of Goiás
installation
The work has as reference the rebellion in the Agroindustrial Colony of Aparecida de Goiânia, in January 2018, led by members of the two largest drug trafficking factions in the country. After the barbarism that left wounded and dead with decapitated, dismembered and charred bodies, the unit's situation gained national repercussion, thus attracting greater attention from the Goiás Court of Justice, which carried out inspections on the spot, and from the Superior Court of Justice, which demanded answers state authorities.
covenant sacrifice it reflects, therefore, on the strengthening of factions as a result of the overincarceration policy and the consequent omission of the State in the face of the precariousness of the prison system. The performance of these groups has also gained strength with the expansion of their territorial domain to other states, thus placing not only the drug trade, but also regional prisons under their control. In the case of Goiás, the state, in addition to being part of the international drug trafficking route, is considered by the factions as a strategic area for the flow of drugs and, also, because of its proximity to Brasília, considered a stronghold of elite consumers.
The installation is the result of an action in which I reproduce an act performed by detainees when they prepare for confrontations and rebellions - the gesture of sharpening weapons. The event took place inside a circle built with pieces of debris that were collected during the renovation of the TJGO's physical space, which began in January 2018, the same month as the prison unit riot. It is within this scenario that symbolizes a sacrificial rite that the gesture of sharpening a machete on the surface of some debris occurs.