about Falso +

Falso + (“False Positive”), In the collection of Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Art and design by Eliana Pérez, 2019

22” x 6.5”  Unique accordion book with hard covers, 15 pages. The accordion binding allows the pages to be drawn out onto a flat surface for display, measuring up to 25’ 8”.

Watercolor, ink and silver leaf on Zerkall paper 100 grams.

In relief on the cover, a moth hides under camouflage, a dreaded omen cloaked in militarism.  In Colombian folklore, the appearance of a moth in one’s house is a harbinger of a death in the family.

Disks of silver leaf pepper the text, reminding us of the perverse monetary incentives soldiers received for each murder.

The horizontal linear format of the drawings mimics the visual reporting of these events in the media: corpses of the “false positives” dumped side by side into mass graves ... processions of the young victims’ mothers, dressed in white and demanding justice ... line-ups of soldiers and officers fabricating victories ... “confiscated” weapons laid side by side, displayed for news cameras …the parade of ants found winding along every surface in the south american jungle … curtains of trees lining the highways where victims were ferried from their homes to their slaughter … an array of empty chairs awaiting occupants that will never return.

Falso + text

“Los Falsos Positivos (The False Positives) is a name given to a group of over 10,000 Colombian civilians murdered by the Colombian army between 2002-2010.  In an attempt to generate statistics supporting the government’s war against rebel groups and justify continuing aid and military packages from the US government, poverty-stricken young men and teenage boys were lured with the promise of jobs into remote areas and murdered by Colombian army soldiers.  Their dead bodies were propped with guns, camouflage uniforms and boots, and logged as rebel fighters killed while engaging with the Colombian army.  After documenting these “rebel combatants”, soldiers dumped their bodies into mass graves.  The hunting of these innocent civilians, carried out by rank and file members of the army, were ordered and incentivized by superiors; the killers were rewarded with promotions, money and other perks.  This atrocity has been traced to the highest levels of the Colombian military and government.  Investigations are underway but progressing slowly.  The term Falsos Positivos is rightfully rejected by human rights advocates as it implies an honest mistake; these deaths were cold-blooded murders, committed for personal and political gain.”