String Studies for a New Beginning
According to the Florentine Codex, Montezuma received an omen of the arrival of the conquistadors before they landed. He saw this omen in the form of the Fire Drill constellation, visible not in a physical mirror but in the black circular crest of a supernatural crane-like bird. The three works that comprise the series Omens of an Indistinct Future re-stage that fateful moment from the Codex, with the insertion of mirrors used for doubling and reflection.
Inspired by Ariella Azoulay’s book Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism, the three string study works below imagine Montezuma had seen other constellations and are intended to support the viewer in speculating about how a reframing of colonization as neither final nor total might open our understanding of the aftermath of that historical period, as well as of our present.
string studies for a new beginning I (Black), Photo: Rachel Topham Photography
string studies for a new beginning II (Half Right), Photo: Rachel Topham Photography
string studies for a new beginning IV (Scattered), Photo: Rachel Topham Photography