The Warriors: An Army of Local Heroes

by Alma Ruiz

The Warriors (2023) is a return to figuration for Guillermo Bert after years of focusing on abstract and conceptual work. For The Warriors, Bert delves again into the mostly Latino immigrant community to select the various models for the installation. The Covid-19 pandemic revealed the indispensability of the Latino workforce exemplified in many frontline workers, who by definition include, but are not limited to, "healthcare workers, protective services workers, cashiers at grocery and general merchandise stores, food production and processing workers, janitors and maintenance workers, agricultural workers, and truck drivers." (6) These individuals perform jobs without which the country would come to a standstill. From that perspective, frontline workers are like an army of warriors always ready to serve.

Starting the search among his circle of friends and acquaintances, Bert began The Warriors with the selection of Margarita, a housekeeper; Alex, the carpenter who works with him; David, a firefighter at LAFD Station 14; Sabrina, a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital; Nalleli, a well-known activist/environmentalist suffering from long-term health issues related to environmental contamination of the neighborhood she grew up in; Eduardo, a beekeeper from neighboring Ventura County; and Jesus, an Amazon delivery driver.

Envisioned as a multiple-figure installation within a desert landscape, a terrain similar to the one migrants cross on their way north, The Warriors also include field workers, teachers, and cooks, among others. They're brown-skinned, made darker by sun exposure. The arid earth and rocks, whose geological strata display the passage of time, are also painted brown. The enveloping mirror walls multiply the natural-looking figures; they resemble an expanded army of dark-skinned warriors. Furthermore, the exhibition employs Augmented Reality to access interviews with several featured frontline workers. Holding a mobile phone in front of a QR code allows visitors to visualize frontline workers speaking live in place of their silent virtual counterparts.