Sculptures and Performance Art, title: 'El Sarcedote de los Cielos', (The High Priest of the Sky)

Barela is interested in creating socially engaged art that speaks about the social structures that keep marginalized peoples on the back burner. We are in an era of confusion and chaos. There seems to be a war on differences: cultural, political, religious, racial and sexual. Many of the targets of this war -Muslims, Arabs, Arab-looking people, Latino immigrants, people with thick accents and ethnic features are characterized as the ‘other menacing misfits of society’. For the past years, his work has centered on the investigation of our collective consciousness and its failure to comprehend the consequence of violence and neglect in our society. This has prompted work that criticizes society and its fondness for violence, especially toward women, disinformation and the marginalized indigenous. Performance art seems to be more permeable, fluid and open to engagement and engages the viewer and the artist, while creating a dialogue of openness and more of a reciprocal experience.