After a scandal broke out over the official image of this year’s Guelaguetza, in Oaxaca, the state government announced that they are going to repeat the contest to continue looking for the image that represents the event.
What happened? Who won the contest and why did they take that design down? Let’s go in parts.
What happened to the Guelaguetza logo?
Earlier this year, the Oaxaca government launched a call for Oaxacans to participate in a contest to find the official image of “July, month of Guelaguetza 2023.”
According to the rules to participate, the works should represent the artistic, dance, traditional, gastronomic, cultural and folkloric characteristics of the 8 regions of the state.
It was clarified that only original works could be registered and unpublished that have not been exhibited previously or that have not participated in other contests.
Among the benefits of winning is the participation in a collective exhibition, a local, national and international advertising guideline, interviews in the media and a support of 25 thousand pesos.
After the entire jury selection process, the Oaxacan government presented the winner of the contest: the artist Luis Fernando Ramírez García, from San Lorenzo Cacaotepec, with the other “Embroidery of tradition and identity”.
But this design ran head-on against social networks. Some of the criticisms were that it does not represent all the regions of Oaxaca since it focuses on the region of the Papaloapan Basin, especially the dance of the Pineapple Flower.
And among all this sea of ”hate” a complaint for plagiarism began to go viral. Users found the winning image design to be very similar to a photograph taken by David Huerta.
The pressure due to the allegations of alleged plagiarism was so great that the government had to retract and take first place from the winner. The authorities explained that the jury chose the design because it met the requirements of the call but they made the decision to take away the first place in the contest and do it again.
The photographer involved denied who has sued the artist or the government for plagiarism. He affirmed that from his point of view, the design was inspired by the photo and that in any case he should only have given him the credits and that’s it.
