El Carnaval Que No Pasó

© Victoria Ruiz - La Resistencia. Two 'Flower Skin' civilians side by side holding on to hope and each other. © Victoria Ruiz - El Bravo Pueblo. Three 'Flower Skins' with guns ready to fight until the end. © Victoria Ruiz - Plomo. All three 'Tiroteo' suits in the middle of a gunfire. View all images ↓
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  • Dates
    2022 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Location London, United Kingdom
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El Carnaval Que No Pasó: A surreal take on the empty promises and Venezuelan crisis through the lens of Carnival.

El Carnaval Que No Pasó.

El Carnaval Que No Pasó translates to ​‘the carnaval that did not happen’. In this series, I am telling the story of one of Venezuela’s darkest periods through the carnivalesque and the surreal. It is a series that depicts the promises that the government made for the country but, in the end, did not happen. El Carnaval Que No Pasó is born from my experience of the Venezuelan crisis, depicting my interpretation of the citizen’s dreams and the reality Venezuelans face.

© Victoria Ruiz - La Resistencia. Two 'Flower Skin' civilians side by side holding on to hope and each other.
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La Resistencia. Two 'Flower Skin' civilians side by side holding on to hope and each other.

© Victoria Ruiz - El Bravo Pueblo. Three 'Flower Skins' with guns ready to fight until the end.
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El Bravo Pueblo. Three 'Flower Skins' with guns ready to fight until the end.

© Victoria Ruiz - Plomo. All three 'Tiroteo' suits in the middle of a gunfire.
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Plomo. All three 'Tiroteo' suits in the middle of a gunfire.

© Victoria Ruiz - Tiroteo. 'Tiroteo' in English means gunfire. This suit is meant to mimic the motion of bullets entering a persons body.
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Tiroteo. 'Tiroteo' in English means gunfire. This suit is meant to mimic the motion of bullets entering a persons body.

© Victoria Ruiz - El Diablito. The devil wearing the 'Desgracia suit' meant to represent the disgrace and darkness intoxicating the country.
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El Diablito. The devil wearing the 'Desgracia suit' meant to represent the disgrace and darkness intoxicating the country.

© Victoria Ruiz - El Diablito. A figure that turns all the light to darkness.
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El Diablito. A figure that turns all the light to darkness.

© Victoria Ruiz - La Represión. The main force of authority they are called 'La Represión' translates to The Repression.
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La Represión. The main force of authority they are called 'La Represión' translates to The Repression.

© Victoria Ruiz - Image from the El Carnaval Que No Pasó photography project
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El Soldado. The soldier is a brainwashed character whose brain is being eaten by the blue parrot. This bird is a symbol of the capital of Venezuela; Caracas. The 8 stars are representative of the flag and its history of government intervention.

© Victoria Ruiz - Image from the El Carnaval Que No Pasó photography project
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Las Promesas. The promises that the government will put down their weapons against their civilians. Here the repression force has slingshots and the civilians are the ones who have the weapons.

© Victoria Ruiz - Mi Bandera. My 'Flower Skin' wearing the Venezuelan flag representing life in a place of death.
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Mi Bandera. My 'Flower Skin' wearing the Venezuelan flag representing life in a place of death.