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(CNN Spanish) - Fabián Cháirez painted the hero of the Mexican Revolution Emiliano Zapata in a way that perhaps had never been seen before: naked and in heels. The work was hung in an exhibition hall of the Palace of Fine Arts of Mexico City in the framework of the exhibition "Emiliano Zapara after Zapata", which on Tuesday became the scene of protests after a group of people entered the exhibition hall to demand that he retire.
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“What I least look for is controversy,” says Cháirez in conversation with CNN in Spanish. "I simply ask myself these questions and I think that what I try with my work is to question and propose something that comes out of conventions."
#Diverse Culture 🏳️🌈
His piece The revolution questions the macho stereotypes that make up the national identity and makes visible the movements of sexual diversity.
This work is exhibited in the @mbellasartes in the show "Emiliano. # ZapataDesfterDeZapata". pic.twitter.com/qvjgJL1D8h
- Ministry of Culture (@cultura_mx) November 28, 2019
The Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature rejected acts of violence that were generated in the cultural arena.
"The MPBA respects, promotes and defends the right to creative freedom of the artistic community and the different expressions of diversity, a plural and democratic society that is strengthened only through dialogue," they said.
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“They are also attacking the freedom of expression that concerns us all, people from many disciplines, from all disciplines. I think it is worrisome that they are undermining freedom of expression and an enclosure like Fine Arts which is being plural and is opening to all interpretations of a subject. So I think so, it is that, what happened yesterday is worrisome because it threatens freedom of expression and it is up to all of us, ”Cháirez describes about the protests on Tuesday.
Cháirez's work is just one among the 141 of 60 artists that are exhibited in the Fine Arts exhibition, but it is undoubtedly the one that has attracted the most attention for his interpretation of Zapata mounted on a white horse, with a pink hat, no dress and in black heels.
In a statement from the authorities of the Ministry of Culture explained that “a group of people who demonstrated inside the Palace of Fine Arts on behalf of the National Union of Agricultural Workers (UNTA) to demand that one of the works that are part of the Emiliano Zapata exhibition after Zapata ”.
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The cultural authorities of Mexico added that they regretted the aggressions suffered by two young people at the hands of people who expressed "insults based on homophobia and intolerance."
“I have felt a lot of support from the LGBT community and the community of artists and from the same institution and allied people,” says the artist. "I will continue to make these types of paintings and then, asking questions with them and proposing images."
Cháirez tells CNN in Spanish that he will not withdraw the work, and that he would not apologize to Zapata's family, who said the work “denigrates” the hero, according to Jorge Zapata, grandson of the general.
Fabián Cháirez, the author of the work that caused controversy.
"I quite respect his interpretation, he has a personal interpretation of the image and is quite respectable, croe that the statements are just expressed from ignorance," the artist told CNN in Spanish. "Just as I respect their interpretation, they have to respect mine."
Cháirez has a message for the people who demanded to withdraw his work: "Violence is the way out, the institution is open to dialogue and I think that is the best way out."
Emiliano Zapata