There is a gap in analyzing vernacular elements from the Latin American and Central American region, especially from a social and non-Western standpoint. It is a relevant topic in El Salvador under the current government of Nayib Bukele, which has eliminated programs for social inclusion and decreased any opportunity for LGBTQ+ rights and reproduction rights. There is heightened censorship, mass incarceration, and specific gentrification to make the country desirable for international investors. This is reflected in aesthetics, the loss of spaces, and elements sold in these spaces, such as the phenomena, electro-domestic coverings, and street sellers. Losing an already fragile and mixed identity, deviancy through maximalism and identity becomes an act of resistance. As this paper was written, identity elements have been displaced, which will probably grow throughout the following years.

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The phenomena of maximalist covers for appliances, toilets, and aprons sold and used in certain parts of El Salvador. These are loud and include lace, prints, and bold colors; they change how a home is perceived by covering appliances. These coverings are usually seen as “tacky,” “kitschy,” and “excessive,” contrasting with elements in a house that is seen to have “good taste” or houses with a higher income. The country has a significant wealth disparity, creating a confrontation in social dynamics where there’s a clear division. With imperialism and colonialism, there is this sense of taste that Salvadorans tend to navigate towards; it can be inferred from the influences that the population wants to identify with upper-class Europeans or Americans from the US, where things are seen in fewer colors, fewer elements, an interpretation of cleanliness, a simplicity that does not connect to the culture that is already fractured by colonization and imperialism.

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The aesthetics of the government's new construction pleases a more minimalistic aesthetic to parts of Europe and the USA. It dismisses any element that is incompatible with the reality that’s been trying to be built, and that includes excess that comes from the mixture of Indigenous culture, pop culture, identity building, and how objects can have a more intimate connection to individuals that hold on to what they can. As with other stories, crafts, and styles in other parts of the global south, these parts can be heightened, further conserved, and appreciated through new media, especially hybrid media, where various mediums can elaborate important stories and give space. New technologies can serve as a tool to conserve these elements representing this mixed identity by creating an archive or world-building, creating utopias, and speculating a more inclusive reality. It also can enhance the materiality, the phenomena, and the treasuring of everyday objects in these homes through metaphors and interpretations. The case studies in this research provide examples of how each lens can be transformed and create a meaningful discourse through contemporary and new media art. New media is also in itself a deviating art form that opens opportunities to create new realities.

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