A direct response to Florida’s direct file statute, a law which allows juveniles within the state to be tried as adults, artist Xavier Cortada’s Victim Block Letters explore the tumultuous ground that quakes underneath the feet of our most impoverished. Labeled as antisocial and obstreperous, those affected by the statute effectively see the dissolution of their childhood in response to the ignorance and innocence of their juvenile actions. Cortada first began to address these issues with his 2001 social engagement project, ArtCare. This early work not only inspired much of the artist’s later social practice but initiated a more focused concentration toward helping South Florida’s youth. In its current iteration, the project functions through more traditional art mediums such as bronze. This historically significant metal offers qualities of permanence in contrast with the ephemeral nature of adolescence. 

Cast from bronze, the blocks functionally resemble their playful wooden counterparts, though they present themselves in an almost totalitarian way; rigid and unmoving, the work appears emotionless in the face of temporality. Conceptually, the block letters elicit thoughts of an intentional erasure, the unidentifiable becomes identified; when one draws attention to that which is subversive, the subversive object/action is propelled towards the realm of ubiquity. Similar in action to the crossed-out words seen in many a Basquiat masterpiece, the debasement of the word “victim” displayed upon the bronze blocks inspires further investigation from its audience.