Duelo / Lucha
Matienschön
Pringles 1249, Buenos Aires
February 2017
This installation is the result of a residency at Matienschön, the visual arts incubator of Club Cultural Matienzo in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It is based on my exploration of the city, its current pulse and dialogues being communicated via public space as well as a look at the history of the country from my position as an outsider and itinerant artist. The result of this inquiry is a series of flags and two wall paintings that each tell different stories by using the language of state imposed national symbols.
The main wall painting is based on a photograph by the German ethnographer and priest Martin Gusinde who documented the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego during the early 1900s. It is covered by a large scale Argentinian flag that leaves 5 feet between the wall and the viewer. Similarly, the rest of the flags speak of silenced narratives by copying graffiti found on the streets, a stencil of the political prisoner Milagro Sala and a flag based on the color and figurative inversion of the Argentinian flag. The opposite wall paintings is a flag meant to represent a decolonized American continent and was created by asking for input from my Instagram and Facebook followers and friends.