Subyugación Amorosa [Iteration I & II]

Subyugación Amorosa [Iteration I] A performance work created in association with the National Gallery London, London’s Learning and National Programs, and University of the Arts London’s BA Fine Art Program. The work utilizes the rug as the stage and boundary line for the performance. The shape of a tree stump that the rug takes is meant to evoke the colonial, imperialist undertones of the National Gallery’s collection, the European countries that are represented in it and their contribution to deforestation and stripping of other natural resources of indigenous cultures in North and South America. The performance sees me restrict myself within the confines of the 100 cm x 150 cm rug in the Spain room of the National Gallery, in front of portraits of religious icons and Spanish war generals. While the rug is meant to be a boundary in the performance, I came to understand it as more of a ‘comfort zone’ and felt a diasporic displacement when I stepped off it. A feeling that is commonly experienced by indigenous people when entering imperialistic art institutions. Subyugación Amorosa [Iteration II] The second iteration of this work takes the form of a public happening in Trafalgar Square in front of the National Gallery (the location of the original performance). The rhetoric of the work is changed once it has been removed from the context of such a colonial space and brought outside to the public. The piece celebrates the traditions of the Quechan people by naturally dyeing the rug with madder root. A plant taken from its native lands and imported to Britain where it was used to dye the infamous Redcoats of the British army, one of the strongest examples of imperialism in human history. To soak the dye into the rug I utilized London’s notorious rainy weather to sustainably dye it with no water waste. Thus, reclaiming the color through traditional indigenous practices.