Barricade, 2019

The 80’s in Panama were characterized by conflicts and social demonstrations in response to the country’s political and economic situation. By the end of 1989, the confrontations intensified, leading to the US invasion on December 20th. The artist Susana González-Revilla recreates, through a large format installation, barricades that were built by civilians as a defense mechanism against the acts of violence generated before, during and after the event. Through a detailed investigation, Barricada resurfaces in the current context as an eloquent memory resource, maintaining the formal structure of the original models on which the artist was inspired. A work of relevant political significance that reinterprets, on one hand, the “natural” reaction of human beings to protect themselves in the face of adversity and, on the other hand, it denounces the social repression of the time.

From December 2019 to February 2020 the piece was exhibited at the International Cultural Center during the collective exhibition “El 20 y su contexto”. Due to the impact and significance of the work, the Museo de la Libertad invited the artist to create a similar version in the exterior space of the institution, which was exhibited from the end of February to August 2020.