As in much of his art, in 'Souvenir Palace' Meschac Gaba draws upon worldly power relations. In this work, Gaba represents the country of Mexico through its coat of arms, an image that has been in use since 1821. It shows an eagle eating a snake from its claw, introduced at the time to signify independence from Spanish colonization. To the people of Tenochtitlan (now the historic center of Mexico-City), this symbol had strong religious connotations, and to the Europeans, it came to symbolize the triumph of good over evil, with the snake sometimes representative of the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Gaba has been at the forefront of exploring the construction of cultural identity and the complexities of international trade since the 1990s, with a special focus on the relationship between Africa and the Western world. His use of flags and weapons symbolize manufactured cultural borders and invite the viewer to reflect on the arbitrariness of our system.