El guardaespaldas [The Bodyguard]

Alejandro Paz creates works that aim to ensconce themselves in the public sphere and contemporary social debates. In Guardaespaldas, Paz presents an apparently absurd and inverted reality that questions notions of social hierarchy, power and security in contemporary Guatemala. For this performance, Paz hired a bodyguard to protect a homeless man throughout the streets of Guatemala City for a day. The bodyguard, himself a status symbol for those he safeguards, was asked to protect a member of society unnoticed and unwanted by most. The video underscores the paradoxical need to visualize a sector of society that is altogether invisible, drawing parallels between the isolation of the bodyguard’s line of work and the solitude of the homeless man’s life. Paz overturns the power relationships inherent in labor negotiations by inverting the rolls assigned to individuals within specific social structures. Through Guardaespaldas, he creates a caustic commentary that places a mirror in front of the viewer and invites them to confront their judgments and perceptions of those that comprise society.