Cards on the table / Muerte, amor de la vida, alguien se va preso (2023) – installation – French playing cards printed on the reverse with a photograph of Nayib Bukele, table – 55 x 55 x 50 cm

Credits: AndreX, Presidente Nayib Bukele (cropped), CC BY-SA 4.0

Throughout history, playing cards have been used both for games and for divination. In everyday expressions, cards are also linked to the desire for honesty and transparency (for example, in the phrase to put one’s cards on the table). This work therefore connects a sincere desire for truth with esotericism, play, and (un)certainty. The installation also presents a specific card layout - one that my mother sometimes used when reading cards. After careful shuffling, the cards are placed in three rows of seven. Certain combinations carry particular meanings. The two cards on the far right foretell, in the top row, an impending death (muerte), in the middle row the love of one’s life (amor de la vida), and in the bottom row that someone will soon be imprisoned (alguien se va preso). The work likewise refers to the current situation in El Salvador, where there is not only love and death but also an extraordinarily high number of people being arrested. The numbers 10, 8, and 3 specifically reference the Maras (Mara Salvatrucha, M18, and M13).