Artists Painted a Mural With Graphic Sex Scenes in a Public Park to Protest Hate Crimes

Artists painted a mural in Santiago to recall the brutal murder of a gay man and raise awareness about the discrimination faced by Chile’s LGBTQ community. Instead, the artwork’s pornographic images caused an uproar. 

The mural appeared in early March in the capital’s centrally-located Parque San Borja to mark the 10-year anniversary of Daniel Zamudio’s murder. Neo-Nazis beat Zamudio with rocks and bottles inside the park for hours and carved swastikas into his body, resulting in his death 24 days later. 

But the homage to Zamudio generated a backlash, as politicians and even some activists said the mural exposed children to sexually explicit images that crossed the line into violence. The outcry raised questions about what art is acceptable in public spaces and how to lobby for acceptance of the LGBTQ community.

The controversial depictions comprise just one part of the 130-foot mural, called the Open-Air Dissident Memorial, which features panels by 11 art collectives.

The contentious scene shows adults lounging around a pool engaging in various sexual acts: a blindfolded man of fair complexion tied to a cross while two darker men choke him and fondle his testicles; a naked man handcuffed to a tree; two men engaged in oral sex; a man penetrating a person who is restrained by a collar and chain. The scene is titled the “Wall of Desire.”

A government agency dedicated to defending the rights of children called for the painting to be removed. “Artistic expression must also safeguard and respect the rights of boys and girls,” the ombudsman for children wrote on Twitter.

Irací Hassler, Santiago’s leftist mayor, echoed the sentiment. “I regret that part of Park San Borja has been painted without permission, including sexually explicit images,” she wrote on Twitter.
 
The outcry expanded as photos of the graphic images spread across social media.

Malú González Cortés a Chilean writer, said on Instagram that they reminded her of the penis drawings she saw as a child in public spaces. “The whole world isn’t formed by just adults, and there’s no reason a four-year-old child should become aware of the existence of sex in any of its forms because of a mural,” she wrote. “The sexualization of childhood through images is a serious problem.” The post has since been removed.

Other parts of the mural also depict scenes of LGBTQ life. They include a transgender man holding his pregnant belly, paintings of Zamudio’s face calling for justice, a boy looking into a mirror to see his female self reflected back, two bearded men embracing, and depictions of trans men with the words “We deserve recognition, visibility, and historical memory.”

Cristóbal "Tobal" Opazo, founder of the art collective Map LGBTI+, which oversaw the full project, said the idea was for artists to tell stories about the hate crimes and marginalization they’ve suffered as members of the LGBTQ community and at the same time express their sexuality. 

The focus on the sexually explicit images doesn’t take into account the larger context, he told VICE World News. They look pornographic if seen up close on the internet, he said, but in the context of the other panels by the various collectives, they’re about “visibilizing other forms of sexuality that lie hidden” by a “conservative” society.

Opazo called the criticism that the mural inappropriately exposes children to explicit sexuality a red herring, and said it reflects society’s unwillingness to view depictions of LGBTQ life.  

“If these paintings bother people so much, it’s because as a society we aren’t having conversations that we need to have,” Opazo said, describing the full mural as a “countercultural response to a heterosexual and conservative society.”

Eye Porn, the art collective that painted the explicit images, refused an interview request. 

Isabel Amor, executive director of Chile’s leading LGBTQ advocacy group, Fundación Iguales, said many groups have declined to weigh in on the controversy because “it only creates conflicts.” Amor said she didn’t believe the explicit images furthered the goal of “legitimizing trans identities.”

One of the most conservative countries in Latin America, Chile has begun to move left on social and cultural issues. In December, Chile’s Congress legalized same-sex marriage and gave married same-sex couples the right to adopt. The bill had languished in both houses of Congress for more than four years.

But these advances come against a backdrop of what many in the LGBTQ community see as an attempt to erase them. Zamudio’s murder triggered a national reckoning over hate crimes in Chile and led to the approval in 2012 of an anti-discrimination law that had been stalled in Congress for seven years. The law makes it a crime to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and religion.

In 2014, the distribution in schools of the Chilean children’s book “Nicolás Has Two Dads,” which explored themes of tolerance and love, caused an uproar. Conservative politicians called for the book’s removal, while LGBTQ groups denounced what they said was a campaign of hate and discrimination. 

The book remained in schools and it became a talking point in last year’s presidential elections when right-wing candidate José Antonio Kast reiterated his opposition to it in a televised debate. Kast lost the election to Chilean leftist Gabriel Boric. Boric named two openly gay people to his Cabinet.

While municipal authorities had already declared their intention to paint over the controversial images, vandals got there first, covering most of the mural with white paint and hate messages against the LGBTQ community, such as “Save your children from the degenerates.” The city has since painted over those messages. 

Correction: VICE World News incorrectly attributed a quote criticizing the mural. We incorrectly quoted Malú Huacuja del Toro, when it was Malú González Cortés. We regret the error.