REQUIEM/MAP
“Dancing with Caito” is part of the Map series, which are portraits of several male relatives that have died prematurely, because of Aids or violence. My cousin Caïto was a pioneer of break dancing in New York City who later travelled and settled in Thailand with a dance troupe where he died of Aids. The image that I used in that piece depicts him breakdancing in Washington Square Park.
Here, truncated images of his moving body are placed in altar-like recessed niches placed asymmetrically in a canvas in an effort to emphasize and echo his stanza. Beaded elements protruding from the photographs further explore the tension that develops between the seemingly dispassionate language of photography and the beaded and sequined elements which allude to the tradition of craft. This tension mirrors an ever widening gap and drama between “technological” or modern communities and those that still function as if in the pre-industrial age. Aside from symbolically “creolizing” the snapshots, the beading offers an opportunity to sustain and resolve a dialogue unfolding between the efficiency of the photographic technique compared to the meditative slowness of the hand-beaded elements.
While on the one hand the beading gesture itself underscores the damage done to the body by acts of violence, or fatal diseases, it also symbolically a healing gesture and a markers of our embattled history.
Here, truncated images of his moving body are placed in altar-like recessed niches placed asymmetrically in a canvas in an effort to emphasize and echo his stanza. Beaded elements protruding from the photographs further explore the tension that develops between the seemingly dispassionate language of photography and the beaded and sequined elements which allude to the tradition of craft. This tension mirrors an ever widening gap and drama between “technological” or modern communities and those that still function as if in the pre-industrial age. Aside from symbolically “creolizing” the snapshots, the beading offers an opportunity to sustain and resolve a dialogue unfolding between the efficiency of the photographic technique compared to the meditative slowness of the hand-beaded elements.
While on the one hand the beading gesture itself underscores the damage done to the body by acts of violence, or fatal diseases, it also symbolically a healing gesture and a markers of our embattled history.
Requiem Series
Map Series