P002 → Not With a Bang + Pues aquí ser es llamarse [Here, to Be Is to Be Named.]
Not With a Bang and Pues aquí ser es llamarse were part of ‘Chipped Teeth and empty bellies’, MFA Fine Arts Thesis Show at Parsons School of Design.
Installation view of Not With a Bang and Pues aquí ser es llamarse.
Pues aquí ser es llamarse [Here, to Be Is to Be Named], 2026 (Detail). Bisqueware, encaustic wax, oil paint, 28 x 18 x 14 in.
A body of a Laysan albatross seems to be plunging or emerging from the floor and in the center of the installation. Despite having no presence in the Adriatic Sea, this and other members of the Diomedeidae family take their name after the Greek hero Diomedes and the legend of his companions whose mournful cries—as they were transformed into birds—were said to form a funeral chorus in his honor.
15 ceramic balls rest on the floor, some of them on sand, some of them on their own individual pedestal made entirely out of ceramic. On their surface fragments of the same discourse in three languages (Spanish, English and Italian) are shown as a barely perceptible high relief. The entire speech, fragmented and inaccessible in its totality, comes from the film Nostalghia by Andrei Tarkovski exploring the longing of one’s home as a malady. One of the final sequences of the movie is translated from the Italian, when Domenico, character described as the crazy man, attempts to demand from the immutable crowd a word in which we all can be together. Calling for the buzz of insects to enter our minds and to forget the distinction between the so-called “sick” from the so called “healthy”, the invitation ends with his own immolation. Perhaps refusal of language, perhaps acceptance of silence, some elements are installed as a sculptural translation to this particular scene.
Not With a Bang, 2026 (Detail), Ceramics, glaze, Variable dimensions (Individual pieces, 8 x 8 x 8 in each max.)
Installation view of Not With a Bang and Pues aquí ser es llamarse.