Pozo de la muerte is a circus act as hypnotic as it is extreme. In it, performers drive cars or motorcycles vertically along the wall of a cylindrical arena, defying gravity. The consequences can be fatal. American artist Ellen Hanson, based in Mexico, draws on this act to explore ideas of losing control, falling, and above all, the brutality inherent in what becomes public: the performance of collapse, the body exposed to the intrusive gaze that watches.

In this series, Hanson delves deeper into a recurring theme in her work: the intersection of failure and femininity. The image of a motorcycle spinning endlessly even as its rider lies on the ground, gravely injured, both inspired and unsettled the artist. Thus, in the “well of death,” domestic and public failures—everyday and devastating—converge. One example is the painting depicting Britney Spears’s shorn hair, evoking the infamous moment when she shaved her head. The image refers to an eBay listing in which people from the hair salon attempted to sell the singer’s locks. The fall into the existential pit is present both metaphorically and literally.

Hanson’s technique consists of painting with ink directly onto the canvas and then stretching it. She then applies a gel and paints again. Her strokes are blurred. The result is distortion: one image layered over another, completely altering the meaning of both. This creates a state of estrangement and unease in which the viewer becomes alienated. Once again, the echo of the fall resurfaces.

Her color palette is cool—reds and crimsons suggesting urgency; shades of blue and teal evoking the past; and finally, an electric green as beautiful as it is unsettling.

In what other way can collapse be revealed, if not through exhaustion?


Text by Rebeca Leal Singer