the thought of being someone else
In the project the thought of being someone else I return to a work from before. A translation of a documentary material that in its original form was produced to be perceived and recognized within a more traditional documentary context. At one point I aligned myself with that world, of being a documentary image maker. It was profound and felt meaningful at the time but came to an end. But some work stayed with me as an idea. A more experimental and visually complex approach to being with a camera in the real world. Not fully exhausted. But also never returned to. Could old(er) material still have relevance as seeds of (past) experimentation that still carry relevance in a current, more interdisciplinary practice? As a means to renavigate. To translate. But this time thru the lens of a more contemporary practice.
The material emanated from numerous travels to Mexico in the late 90s. In early 2022 signs from within my current art community kept, surprisingly, pointing me back to this work. In a somewhat magical way the times aligned and this became the one moment to attempt at renegotiating this previous material. To re-examine and investigate anew but also face my own questions about artistic identity(ies) and changes in artistic work overtime. To own up to an earlier practice, the documentary, and see potential and process as a sort of vehicle for liberation. How a sensibility, in older work can still have relevance, albeit perhaps more as a departure point for making new work out of existing work. Only now with my own past.
As a recurring artistic strategy, the archive, especially in an expanded form has been part of my current practice. I was interested in the idea of compressing this almost abandoned material into a small, contained entity (body) as both a way to re-examine the work, to honor the time spent excavating the world of Lucha Libre and as a way to explore the borderline between the still and the moving through a series of foldout systems. And to ultimately let it exist as a one-off artist book which became the work. And a gift.
But in the end this project and work is about Lucha Libre. Initially the fascination with the exterior part of that world. The masks and outfits and the wildness and the almost impossible movements in and out of the ring. The somewhat absurd and incomprehensible dance being played out. I dismissed the larger venues and instead became part of a collective ritual. A rural spectacle. Sensing the appeal to the working class and seeing all ages find some therapeutic outlet on this stage of contradictions at the heart of Mexican national identity. A cultural performance.
