Illegal Alien's Guide to the Concept of Relative Surplus Value, 2009

Medium: Color lithograph

Dimensions: Object Height/Width: 15 x 80 in

Accession Number: 2009.37

Credit Line: Museum purchase with funds from Mrs. Martha W. Smith by exchange

Label: This multi-panel scene progresses from right to left, like the text of a Mayan codex, on which Enrique Chagoya based the work’s format. In the treacherous waters of a stormy sea, we witness a dizzying array of found images, including figures from Japanese ukiyo-e prints, American cartoon characters, commercial shipping vessels, amphibious vehicles, a Meso-American temple, and a zombie businessman. Chagoya’s tongue-in-cheek title brings the work’s deeper themes into focus. In economic theory, relative surplus value results from the work of laborers whose wages are lower than market value but high enough to retain them in their jobs. While the artist characterizes this practice as a contemporary form of slavery, he also points to a history of resistance, embodied in the life of María Chiquinquirá Díaz, depicted on this work’s “title page.” In 1794, Chiquinquirá Díaz was the first enslaved person in Ecuador to sue for her freedom. Exhibit label from "The Big 4-0: New Views from the Collection," 2024.

Exhibition History: Read Between the Lines: Enrique Chagoya's Codex Prints, Haggerty Museum of Art, 01/16/2013 - 05/19/2013 What is Hispanic? | ¿Qué es hispánico?, Haggerty Museum of Art, 08/19/2015 - 12/20/2015 The Big 4-0: New Views of the Collection, Haggerty Museum of Art, 08/23/2024 - 12/22/2024