The Mexican Suitcase is a textbook of robberies, a forward-thinking retrospective, a stolen portfolio, three years in the making. The title refers to a suitcase containing thousands of negatives taken during the Spanish Civil War by Robert Capa in the late 1930s. The suitcase was lost for sixty years and recovered in Mexico City. Enrique Santos uses the story as an example of the circular quality of art: theft becomes appropriation, popular image becomes artistic symbol, history becomes contemporary, and so forth. Using a diverse array of media - film stills, ceramic sculpture, photography and photorealistic painting - Santos reflects on violence in popular culture and artistic perception.

“Retaking film, journalistic, documentary and advertising language, Santos quotes and reinterprets the great thieves of the screen and some real criminals, in order to talk about lies, confusions, myths and misunderstandings, as well as an ever more violent and heartbreaking reality that crawls into our lives through trivialized and shallow images.” – Florencia Magaril.