Escalera’s Trucks: visual iconography as a living expression of Colombian popular culture and graphics

Abstract

The objective of this doctoral research is to review the graphic and iconic schemes that are presented in the visual style of Escalera Trucks, rural traditional transportation in Colombia. It is worth mentioning that peasant transport vehicles have surpassed their importance as vehicles, to become a reference of visual culture in the peasant context; especially in coffee producing regions such as the Andina Region. Given that their iconic characteristics make them cultural references for rural roads in the country, the research is located in a reality built collectively, around a means of transport that involves visual creators (artists), drivers, mechanics and bodybuilders; cultural leaders, visual anthropologists; that as agents of participation from the methodology of Narrative Research seek to evidence a cultural panorama, which as explained (Barbero, 2004: 50) in the text De los medios a las mediaciones. Comunicación, cultura y hegemonía, the configuration of the category “popular culture” draws on the political framework, as a field of struggle, where social and political conditions would show the emergence of a type of mass culture, thanks to the strengthening of classes and mass. This is why research looks at the problem based on the composition and visual richness of the phenomenon but displays the polyphonies and riches that emerge from the manifestation itself. The investigation portrays these means of transport from the social, visual and graphic perspective, expanding its axis of influence as peasant transport solutions, connecting realities between isolated places.