Manuel Ocampo visually echoes the artistic practice of the acclaimed German expressionist painter Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix in this 1998 oil on canvas painting. Otto Dix depicted the inhumane realities of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutalities of the two world wars. As with Otto Dix, Ocampo portrays the concrete situation of sex work in a globalized society. Employing a satirical approach, the artist exposes modern-day enslavement and human trafficking committed and sustained by an imperialist power. The female figures representing three races show their dependency on a sailor symbolizing the American Navy. The women’s subservience to the male figure depicts male chauvinism. Machismo – brainwashing men into thinking they are entitled to whatever they want – sustains this culture of oppression and exploitation. Combined with the seemingly inescapable shackles of neoliberal globalization – a consequence of imperialism – Ocampo enlightens his viewer to the commodification of women that has only become more rewarding for the unabashed perpetrators. In line with Ocampo’s message, we live in a society where sexual violence towards women and other minority groups is normalized. Most conversations surrounding trafficking shift the blame towards the victims, showing a power imbalance between the violator and the violated. This turns a blind eye to the harsh reality of the victims struggling with poverty, leaving them to the necessity of “selling” themselves to earn a livelihood.
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Manuel Ocampo (b. 1965)
Otto Dix, The Artworld, 1972
signed and dated 1998 (lower left)
oil on canvas
48" x 36" (122 cm x 91 cm)
SOLD: PHP 584,000
Provenance:
Archivo 1984 Gallery