On the Chariot, Facing Backwards
Location: Metáfora Studio Arts, Barcelona
Year: February 2023
On the Chariot, Facing Backwards is a multi medium installation created from rope, thread, second hand fabric, oil on canvas, rocks, concrete, sediment mixture, a palm leaf, a bronze hand, and found tile. Derived from a dream, the painting was created and later extended into a space of reflection.
Sediment as a reflection of the work, coming from the Latin word sedere meaning to sit or settle. Commonly depicted in geology a solid material that is moved and deposited in a new location. Sediment can consist of rocks and minerals, as well as the remains of plants and animals. It can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a boulder.
Materials accumulated through random encounters, every piece is sourced sustainably and locally, fabric found in the street, objects from second-hand local markets, and concrete from regenerated construction in Barcelona. Rope dyed from my onion peels. On the chariot facing backwards considers a personal shift that extends into its location and the participation of the viewer.
If I put my hands on it
and move it from there to here
a small piece of what once was
falls into the house
reduction nor external growth
could define an opening
into an extension that’s nonlinear
the material is remnant of a history
we live in, out, below, and on top of it
it makes a carpet of soil nothing new
only a complexification of what came before
if we trace it back
it’s a redistribution for another beginning
stones and plants
a kitchen made of warm wood and morning light
an ashtray dream
on the chariot facing backwards
trail by indentations
partial in the journey of an object
as it is partial in mine
twine two pieces of cement
reach out then up
it is all buds, then bloom