The subject of this chapter of Papaver somniferum, a study of the poppy undertaken by the contemporary Colombian artist, Juan Fernando Herrán, is the perception of the landscape. Herrán contends that it is anything but neutral, since both cultural and historic components influence how we look at and represent a landscape. Starting with the history of the perception of the European landscape, Herrán points out that the processes of description, analysis, and cataloging are “symptomatic of a way of thinking that seeks to understand and conquer the world.” From there, Herrán turns his focus to the parallel function of scientific research. “The scientific perspective constantly differentiates between what we see as something external, outside us and the position of the observer.” To the writer, in the Colombian context of the struggle against drugs, this perspective is similar to the military strategies implemented by the government’s institutional programs. These programs prioritize the view of the watchful government, looking down from the air, as it oversees territories in which the poppy plant (Papaver somniferum) is illegally cultivated. Moreover, to the Colombian State, these areas exist and are made visible only through the use of technologies such as aerial photography, reconnaissance flights, and identification by the “avión fantasma” [ghost plane] and its trained pilots. The trained pilots fumigate crops to eradicate them without any knowledge of the complex reality faced by the growers on the ground. This has to do with a “narrow, partial perspective that ultimately results from the problem of indifference.”

This document by Juan Fernando Herrán (born 1963) is one of the texts included in the publication Papaver somniferum, which resulted from his field studies on the poppy started in 1993. Its relevance lies in its presentation of the concepts most important to the artist in his visual artwork and research. Their focus on man’s strategies of dominion and appropriation when faced with space and nature is derived from a critical, contemporary view of landscapes.Herrán turns to the poppy plant, from which the highly valued latex is extracted to make heroine, to cast a light on the conflict it generates in Colombia. The writer points out the violent, vicious cycle that starts with cultivation and production, and then eradication. In this text, he analyzes the strategic role of technology in the aerial eradication campaigns. Using satellite signals and infrared viewers, along with other sophisticated tools, the Colombian State records, identifies, and attacks the crops. Undoubtedly, the technology causes harmful effects to the peasants who live in those areas that are difficult to reach; these are areas where groups have risen up in arms and drug traffickers have [the most] influence. Some interesting examples are the large-format photographs in the Papaver somniferum project series: Tríptico judicial[Judicial Triptych] (1999) and the installation of sculptures made of lead in Terra Incógnita [Unknown Land] (2000–02).In the Colombian art world in the 1990s, there was a heightened interest in showing the difficult episodes of violence the country was experiencing: displacement, forced disappearance, genocide, and massacres. Unlike the work done by artists in other decades, artists such as Herrán, José Alejandro Restrepo (born 1959), Doris Salcedo (born 1958), and Óscar Muñoz (born 1951) performed field studies related to such themes. They also began to experiment with materials and spaces that led them to strengthen artworks that conceptualized these issues. As well as being a visual artist, Herrán was director of the Visual Arts Department at the Universidad de los Andes [University of the Andes] in Bogotá (2002–04) and participated as a curator in Proyecto Pentágono: Investigaciones sobre arte contemporáneo colombiano [The Pentagon Project: Studies on Contemporary Colombian Art] (2000), and contributed to the book Wiedemann por Colombia, la mirada de un artista [Wiedemann for Colombia, Through the Eyes of the Artist] (2005).