""Payasos Y Ladrones" has been the most controvertial exhibitions I have done" says Hassell. Completed in 2004, she had set up to exhibit work at the G&T Continental Bank in one of Guatemala's most hip city areas, 4 Grados Norte.
She had shown the curator her portfolio when the intial contact was made. And as Hassell had a growing reputation as an artist it was a given she would show something reasonable. However the curator did not see a single piece Hassell was intending to show previous to the day of set up. Arriving with this series of 12, framed with black backing, clear plexiglass and large metal screws it was immediately clear it was going to be tricky.
She had printed a large text onto easy to peel special transfer sticker lettering and intended to paste them onto the pristine wall of the gallery "potentially damaging the surface of the paint considerably" . She also had a 5 lb box full of large nails that she intended to lay out in front of the text on the wall. The curator was icredibly polite, yet however told her she could not hang a number of the pictures, and more than half the text was also not to be hung up because of its content. Metaphorically speaking the entire show became an intervention as much as an exhibition itself , due to the fact that she intentionally created the images to be hung in the Bank's Foundation gallery.
The irony of the title itself tells you what her intentions were. "Payasos Y Ladrones" or "Clowns and Thieves" has images that deal with issues of the military, gangs, politics, corruption, homocide, abuse, poverty, victimization, child labor, and narcotrafic all of which tie into the very heart of the location itself. It is highly unlikey that the Banks Foundation Gallery would have ever agreed to hang the work at all, had it not been scheduled into the program more than 8 months a previous to the exhibition, combined with the fact that it had not seen until the day of set up.
The Foundation cancelled the opening cocktail with a polite excuse that the Board had called it off, they had mis dated both the press releases, and email invitation.
There were four other very important events concurring with the opening of this exhibition on the same night. For one of which, The Icaro Film Festival, at the National Theatre (that was packed), Hassell had just dropped off the 24 marble awards she had designed and completed for the third consecutive year. After which she went on to her own opening to find it perfectly empty. Hassell later said how much it meant to her, to see it that way, "a perfect ghost exhibition. The exhibition that never existed".
Numerous reknowned artists and gallery owners did see the exhibion while it was up, and were all struck by the fact that it had been so seriously sensored. It sent out a shock wave in all directions within the art scene, becoming the most heard about exhibition in the end because "Emily's show was completely sensored". Hassell was then asked to speak to a columnist for one of the top ranking news papers about it, and also submitted a full article on her work in another paper, highlighting the importance of her foreign presence and opinion in the country.
The entire series was bought by a private collector in 2006.