Guadalajara Mayor Enrique Alfaro is spearheading the construction of nine works of art to be installed at spots around the city selected for maximum visibility.
A few of these public sculptures have already been erected, the most controversial of which is Ismael Vargas’ “Sincretismo,” a melange of Catholic and pre-Colombian iconography placed on the center divider of Calzada Federalismo.
The bronze piece blends the image of the venerated Virgin of Guadalajara – “the patroness of Mexico” – with the Aztec goddess Coatlicue and has been branded by many Catholics (although not all) as sacrilegious. The images of skulls in the work have in particular provoked much anger.
The unveiling of the sculpture in mid-August drew a barrage of criticism and abuse, mostly of it directed toward Alfaro. On the first weekend after it was inaugurated, spurred on by Cardinal Juan Sandoval, the outspoken former archbishop of Guadalajara, several hundred Catholics surrounded the sculpture in protest, brandishing signs decrying what they called blasphemous theological miscegenation.
But if Alfaro and his colleagues thought this initial opposition would melt away in time, they were sorely mistaken.
Outraged citizens have since taken out full-page newspaper ads to vent their anger, and last Sunday, devotees of the Virgin of Guadalupe again marched along Federalismo to demand the removal of the sculpture. Organizers boasted that 10,000 people turned out, although police said the figure was more like 2,000.
The litany of complaints against the statue includes the idea that religious syncretism is in itself “a grave threat,” while some protestors have even gone so far as to imply that the sculpture is at least partially responsible for the earthquakes that have devastated the country recently.
More secular criticism has been leveled at the mayor’s public art program, with members of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the municipal government accusing Alfaro of conducting affairs related to public art with too little transparency, especially where it concerns the awarding of contracts to artists. They also claim that the city’s “cultural infrastructure” (libraries, cultural centers, etc.) is in a deplorable state and could use some of the 62 million pesos allocated for the arts project.
Many of Sunday’s protestors voiced their disapproval of Alfaro, urging bystanders not to vote for him in next year’s elections, when he is expected to be the Citizens Movement candidate for governor of Jalisco.