Movement for the Liberation of the Coca Plant

Artist’s country of origen: Colombia
Materials: Neón
Medium: Sculpture, Installation, Digital Art / New Media
Size: 140 × 114 × 5.5 cm
Year: 2012 – 2014

In this neon installation, Wilson Díaz transforms a simple phrase, “Movimiento de liberación de la planta de coca”, into a luminous declaration. The work reclaims the coca plant from decades of stigma tied to drug policy and the armed conflict in Colombia. By inscribing this call to liberation in glowing light, Díaz invites viewers to reflect on how language, power, and perception shape the fate of both plants and people.

The piece challenges official narratives of eradication and control, proposing instead a symbolic and literal “liberation” of the coca leaf. Díaz advocates for recognizing the plant’s ancestral, medicinal, and cultural dimensions, which have been overshadowed by its association with narcotrafficking. Through its simplicity and clarity, the neon text becomes both artwork and manifesto, a call to restore the coca plant’s dignity and to envision new, decolonial relationships between nature, politics, and society.