Historical and personal memory are interconnected in the work of Edgardo Aragón, revisiting history through a series of remakes and bringing into the present situations and narratives from his family that relate to broader social, cultural and political issues – and those related to the context of Oaxaca, the state of his birth, and to the conditions of a country disrupted by drug trafficking. He generally uses video to tell or retell a story and bring it back into operation and circulation. Matamoros (2009) is a road movie recording the artist’s journey on Mexican roads from Oaxaca to the United States border, following the same route Pedro Vazquez took in the 1980s transporting drugs. In Efectos de familia [Family Effects] (2007/2009), members of Aragón’s family – cousins, nephews – “are forced to learn the family history, related to various forms of organised crime.” In these works, affective ties have replaced moral judgement through symbolic actions that allow the violence associated with the “narco” to be seen from another viewpoint different from the way it is portrayed in the media.

Edgardo Aragón (born 1985) received his B.A. in Fine Arts from the ENPEG la Esmetalda, Mexico City. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporaneo (MUAC), Mexico City; MoMA P.S.1, New York; and the Luckman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. His work has also been included in group exhibitions including Resisting the Present, Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 2012;Disponible: A Kind of Mexican Show, San Francisco Art Institute, 2011; Historias Fugaces, Laboral Centro de Arte, Gijon, 2011; and El horizonte del topo, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 2010. His work was also included in the 3rd Moscow Biennial of Young Artists, the 12th Istanbul Biennial, and the 8th Mercosur Biennial. His films have been screened in film festivals in Werkletiz, Marseille, and Mexico City. He lives and works in Oaxaca.