Bajo sospecha, part 1 El delincuente por el (d)efecto, part 2 Retrato hablado [Under Suspicion, part 1 Delinquent by (d)efect, part 2 Composite Sketch]

Under Suspicion is an autobiographical work that refers to a real event. The artist was walking along a street in Santiago when he was detained and forced into a police car. The police claimed that his face matched the photograph of the crime suspect. After this traumatic experience, Oyarzún made this work that he describes as a form of “self-therapy.” The photographs are self-portraits taken by the artist. The drawing is taken from the police file of the real criminal. The text is the official police description of the suspect: “He has black skin, like an atacameño [a person from the Atacama desert]; straight hair, strong fat lips above a wide chin, a narrow forehead, as if without a brain.” Under Suspicion reveals some of the racial and ethnic prejudices present in Chile, a country proud of its white, European heritage.