Camnitzer has refined his interest in the associative potential of text and image in the past two decades, while continuing to question the dynamics of political power and the systems that uphold it.
In Last Words (2008) Camnitzer prints death row prisoners’ final statements, invoking only those with the word “love,” exposing our collective indifference to violence enacted upon individuals by the state. A similar empathy is foundational to Memorial (2009), in which Camnitzer creates a version of the Montevideo phonebook that includes the names of the still missing individuals who disappeared during the Uruguayan Dictatorship (1973–1985). In Please Look Away (2015), overlapping sentences written by the artist incorporate terms from an article on the torture of Abu Ghraib prisoners during the Iraq War. The phrases are imprinted and repeated on long strips of adhesive tape that are installed up, down, and across the floors and walls of the gallery. Their arresting visual impact manifests the confrontational impact of language, particularly in the context of interrogation. Despertar o Muerte (2018) its titular phrase (meaning “Awaken or die”) onto various national flags from Latin America. Their installation at half-mast on flagpoles in public spaces beckons the urgency of political engagement.
Other works made by Camnitzer since 2000 recontextualize familiar tools and objects. Compass (2003) is a compass that points south rather than north, alluding to the history of colonialism. Notes to Myself (2008) challenges conventions of notetaking and the organization of ideas through language by distorting lined paper. Writing is also the focus of Symmetrical Jails (2014). In each of seven prints, Camnitzer stacked and mirrored the letters of the word “symmetry” to create seven unique characters. He uses the United Nations official languages Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, and adds German.
Timelanguage (2016) also reflects Camnitzer’s enduring commitment to expanding the possibilities of printmaking. Visual markers of accumulation and addition signify both the passage of time and accumulation of information. Of the work, Camnitzer states, “I see the ideal lasting work of art (one I’ve never made) as the best and most elegant—in terms of its economy—solution to an interesting problem, to the point that it establishes a new paradigm or causes a paradigm shift. … I don’t believe in absolute and eternal values. I believe in this interpretative dialogue that keeps changing over time.”