Opening Reception Tuesday, March 1, 6pm-9pm
Exhibition runs through Friday, March 4
The exhibition will present a group of works reflecting on colonial relations between Brazil and the US mainly through figures of cannibalism, cattle, and the zombie.
“Anthropophagy” (anthro:human, phagy:eating, devouring) is a concept central to an anti-colonial belief in many Latin American countries: the colony “eats” and “digests” the colonizer’s culture in order to create something of its own. However, “anthropophagy” (or simply “cannibalism”) can also be used as a metaphor for colonialism, capitalism, and cultural appropriation. Could an artwork be at the same time cannibalistic and cannibalized?
Another important figure in anti-colonial imagery that is related to cannibalism is the zombie. The zombie has already lost its life but refuses to die. It has lost all hope but continues to move. With contaminated flesh, the zombie can make the colonizers part of its herd, forcing them to face their own cannibalistic desires. In a sense, the zombie is the only cannibal that will never agree to negotiate, to compromise, to cease to act.
It is up to the anti-colonial cannibal to eat, digest, and regurgitate the colonial thinking. The living are not as relentless as the zombie but they can still bite.
Arruda also presents an installation of three flags on three different outdoor sites at CalArts, running from Monday, Feb. 28–Monday, March 7.
