Canal Zone Memories, 2022
"Those who plant flags, reap sovereignty." Popular expression from Panama
The Panama Canal Zone was an unincorporated territory of the United States, carved into the Isthmus of Panama from 1903 to 1979 — a colonial footprint that stretched far beyond its physical boundaries. The greatest generational struggle of the Panamanian people was the fight for sovereignty over this territory, a victory finally realized in 1999 when control of the Canal was transferred to Panama. But sovereignty, as history shows, is not a fixed destination.
This visual poem revisits the afterlife of the Canal Zone in the collective imagination of Panamanians. It contains excerpts from Joaquín Beleño’s novel “Gamboa Road Gang”, which follows the main character Ata, a young black West Indian man who is serving fifty years in a Canal Zone jail because he was falsely accused of raping a white American woman who he feel in love with. Beleño’s work, based on real events, exposed the racialized violence and injustices woven into the Canal’s history, a legacy that still lingers.
This work asks: When does sovereignty truly begin? And how do we honor those who planted flags not to conquer, but to reclaim?
