Monstrosity
and systems of preservation
✰ The Image as a Technology of Death
✰ Ramblings and reflections on queer affinities for the Gothic and the monstrous
Monstrosity and systems of preservation is a research project that explores the role of Images in disengaging viewers from their remorse for enacting harm against foreign bodies and geographies. The research critically examines how European processes of dehumanization have historically been used to mobilize civilians against scapegoats on a false premise of superiority. By connecting situated archival research, personal reflection, performance, and installation, I invite audiences to confront the ongoing presence of colonial images and systems of representation as well as their impact on lived experience.
Initiated in 2023 and situated in the harbor-city of Rotterdam, the project explores colonial history, with a specific focus on Dutch colonisation of Brazil. Drawing links between documents from the municipal archive (Rotterdam Stadsarchief), colonial systems of violence and extraction, as well as personal frustrations, the work examines patterns of dehumanization.
As a queer Latin-American immigrant with a sympathy towards monsters such as myself, over time, the work morphed into a rejection of commodified human-hood, sold to us as visa applications and naturalization procedures. A somatic valve through which I could externalize my frustration, and in doing so, invite my audience to reflect alongside me.
Rather than offering resolution, the work aims to create space for conversations around thresholds of dehumanization by asking: When does one become a monster?
Initiated in 2023 and situated in the harbor-city of Rotterdam, the project explores colonial history, with a specific focus on Dutch colonisation of Brazil. Drawing links between documents from the municipal archive (Rotterdam Stadsarchief), colonial systems of violence and extraction, as well as personal frustrations, the work examines patterns of dehumanization.
As a queer Latin-American immigrant with a sympathy towards monsters such as myself, over time, the work morphed into a rejection of commodified human-hood, sold to us as visa applications and naturalization procedures. A somatic valve through which I could externalize my frustration, and in doing so, invite my audience to reflect alongside me.
Rather than offering resolution, the work aims to create space for conversations around thresholds of dehumanization by asking: When does one become a monster?