Economical Study On The Skin Of Caracans, 2009

Santiago Sierra’s edition Economical Study on the Skin of Caracans confronts systemic racism and economic inequality through a rigorously structured conceptual work that visualises a stark correlation: the darker a person’s skin, the lower their average yearly income. Sierra photographed the backs of 35 individuals – not as symbols of labour, but as neutral yet intimate surfaces for registering racial difference. He then averaged the grayscale value of each skin tone and paired it with a corresponding income level in US dollars. The result is a haunting visual graph of social segregation, rendered through anonymised skin and monochrome fields. Rather than aestheticising injustice, Sierra exposes the mechanics of discrimination, offering a blunt but necessary reflection on the politics of visibility, value, and power.