On Esthetics:
The Image as a Technology of Death
— 2023If educational institutions are spaces of intellectual labor, it is crucial to define what said endeavor means. If labor is the willingness to make effort, then thinking is not labor, if thinking is learning from, and extending existing paradigms. Therefore, the willingness to re-think is intellectual labor and, unless paradigms are questioned, across all fields, we will be intellectually held back.
If the noun “esthetic” alludes to the qualities of an image, then one ought to not consider the image literally. It is under this framework that the idea of the Image, with a capital I, will be examined. Image with a capital because the imaging that will be analyzed is the Euro-US-American canon which dictates Images within the Western world. As explained by Brazilian artist and researcher Puma Camillê; “esthetics are the first technologies of death”[1]. The Image can sustain claims in favor of a group, culture or environment’s glorification or abomination. The former upholds the position of its subject as Image maker, thus allowing the celebrated subject to demonize other groups. The existence of these systems of preservation should urge image makers to take control of Image production.
This essay will discuss the claim that the Image is a preservation system, with reference to the history of Dutch colonization in Brazil.
The Image and colonial memory
The Image has the capacity to stagnate political systems, thus upholding existing technologies of oppression. In other words, the Image is a method of political preservation as explained by Bilal Khbeiz in the essay; Modernity’s Obsession with Systems of Preservation; “Despite modernity’s obsession with fragility and its aspiration to produce instruments of preservation, it is unable to preserve bodies—so it resorts to preserving images”[2].
Indeed, multiple Western institutions uphold Images meant to preserve the ocidental political landscape. The Netherlands, as a country, is a great example of this, given the lack of knowledge Dutch citizens have of their colonial past. Most Dutch citizens wouldn’t associate the Dutch “Golden” Age to Brazil and would certainly not be aware of the atrocities committed by Dutch settlers arriving in the Americas in the mid 1600s. Historian Alex van Stipriaan comments on the “historical narrow-mindedness” of the Dutch and explains that it is in large part because historians, until the 1980s, wrote about colonial history from a patronizing perspective and made no inclusion of sources from or by the colonized. Although the historiographic field in the Netherlands has moved far beyond this, van Stipriaan elaborates that this derogatory Image of the colonized persists in the public consciousness, since the few historians that still defend these views are more often given a platform by mainstream media[3].
This phenomenon can also be observed in Brazil from a reversed point of view; many northeastern Brazilians still endorse the Image of the “good” colonizer. The Dutch, for their religious and ethnic tolerance, and their contribution to the region’s rapid economic growth (by Euro-US-American standards) at the time, are still regarded as “better” colonizers than the Portuguese. Mentions of Count Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, the representative of the Dutch crown in Brazil, remain prevalent in the media and politics of Recife, originally Mauritsstad and capital of Dutch Brazil. The politicians of the state capital of Pernambuco often reference Nassau in their speeches to further assert themselves as responsible rulers[4].
It is worth noting that this myth is maintained in the contemporary Brazilian public consciousness in part due to the Netherland’s current politically “progressive” Image. From the late 1970s onwards, the Netherlands developed a socially liberal and economically developed Image. Examples such as the existence of coffee shops and gay marriage alongside a strong and rich economy are used by mainstream neo-liberal media to justify the Dutch’s contemporary excellence. Naturally, this resonates with the Dutch populace which can see themselves as more “civilized”[5] than the global South and with many people who wish their country was more like the Netherlands. Ultimately, this Image allows the Dutch to not feel implicated in the hideousness of the geo-political scene, both contemporary and past, they have moved past the barbarity of war and oppression. The Image goes uncontested.
Because the Image is uncontested, Dutch people never learnt about their destruction of Northeast Brazil’s fauna for sugar cane and Brazil wood’s monoculture, nor did they ever learn about how these industries contributed to the displacement and enslavement of 350 000 West Africans in the 17th century alone. Indeed, the Image goes uncontested, and the Dutch public consciousness still feels a connection to the colonizers of their past. This results in the portrait of people such as Marten Soolmans being some of the most praised possessions of the renowned Rijksmuseum, despite his wealth being the products of sugar plantations and an enslaved workforce[6].
It is crucial to acknowledge the political connection Dutch people have to their colonial past because this link is proof that the Dutch “progressive” Image is a construct meant to stagnate the Dutch political landscape, thus allowing already existing systems of oppression to perdure, or in some cases, become stronger.
Self-absolution, scapegoating and the return of extremism
Dutch people remain complacent to the politics of their country because the “progressive” political Image conveyed by them is that of a country that has solved all their issues. No poverty, no discrimination, no inequality, all liberties (reputation for legalized/decriminalized drugs), etc… However, this is simply not the case. Privileged white Dutch citizens still benefit from that colonial past. The best example being the Dutch wealth gap, which according to statistics from the World Inequality Database[7], won’t stop growing since the late 90s and is one of the starkest in the world. The risk of being under the poverty line also increases if you are in a large Urban center such as Rotterdam or Amsterdam[8], which house larger shares of immigrants than rural municipalities. This correlation cannot be overlooked.
Unfortunately, many Dutch flaws are ignored by the general populace, and because this Image of a perfect Netherlands is upheld, populist and extremist discourse gains popularity as it tries to blame foreigners for the country’s problems. This ultimately led to the extreme-right wing political party; PVV’s, victory. It’s head Geert Wilders, is an outspoken islamophobe and xenophobe, who knows intimately about the power of the Image, otherwise the PVV wouldn’t have included the following statements in their 2023 political program; “Apologies for the slavery past and police actions are withdrawn”; “Quitting art and culture subsidies”; “End of left-wing hatred of heroes from our history”; “The National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism must go”; etc…
Taking agency over the Image and subverting the canon
Taking into consideration that the Image can withhold such devastating power, one wonders, how can this power be dismantled? How can those who work with esthetics position themselves against this?
If research that opposes canon narratives can reshape the Image, then visual workers, and anyone working with the construction of the Image, should consider research and contextualization a central part of their esthetic labor.
In her essay, Difference without Separability, Denise Ferreira da Silva analyses the mechanisms of modern thought and how the idea of absolute Reason is a mechanism of oppression. the capital R Reason discussed in her text supports the creation of the racial grammar that sustains the existence of The Other. A racialized Other that will suffer the violence of modernism up until the neo-liberal society we live in today. Although she discusses language, I believe her reasoning can be applied to the Image as well. She explains that “An ethico-political program that does not reproduce the violence of modern thought requires re-thinking sociality from without the modern text”[9]. It is equally important to rethink the Image beyond the modern canon, it is important for artists and those working with images to revisit the past to better understand the future they would like to portray.
An example worth comparing to this logic is the developments in Brazilian archeological studies from a queer perspective. Until the 21st century, Brazilian archeology was developed through the acquisition of irrefutable facts and scientific objectivity, thus completely excluding social perspectives that would refer to feminist or queer studies. Theories on the origins of sexual and gender divisions amongst indigenous societies were made based on a Western paradigm of male domination; Indigenous categories of gender were never considered. Fortunately, nowadays many archeologists are exploring the field with a regard for queer and feminist theory, thus distancing themselves from the Images conveyed by western-centered narratives. Multiple research projects on this topic are compiled in a bibliographic research article by Laura Pereira Furquim and Camila Pereira Jácome; Gender and Feminist Theory in Brazilian Archeology: From Gender Dismorphism to the Queer Spring [Teorias de Gênero e Feminista na Arqueologia Brasileira: Do Dimorfismo de Gênero à Primavera Queer][10].
All visual makers and workers should follow this example and find ways to operate beyond what the canon expects of them. As Ismatu Gwendolyn explains in her essay; There is no Revolution Without Madness; “There is no iteration of Western, sanitized Reason that will co-sign the destruction of itself”[11].
Conclusion
Ultimately, the Image can transform as much as it can stagnate, thus making it important for those working with esthetics, in the literal and figurative sense, to consider how to contest it. Artists should consider the histories and contexts their artistic practices fall within to better shape the future of the Image. But they shouldn’t be the only ones, art historians, curators, sociologists, economists, journalists… should always be mindful of the power their words hold in the construction or dismantling of Images. It is important for academics to consider the ways in which their claims may contribute to the abomination of groups, cultures, or environments and how this vilification can sustain claims to violence, in all its meanings, against these subjects. It is important to acknowledge the Image as a technology of death.
[1] Puma Camillê, “Masterclass by Puma Camillê: The Intersection of Vogue and Capoeira” (Framer Framed (Amsterdam-Oost), October 31, 2023).
[2] Bilal Khbeiz, “Modernity’s Obsession with Systems of Preservation ,” E-Flux Journal, no. 8 (September 2009), https://www.e-flux.com/journal/08/61379/modernity-s-obsession-with-systems-of-preservation/.
[3] Cath Pound, “How the Dutch Are Facing up to Their Colonial Past,” BBC News, February 24, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210601-how-the-dutch-are-facing-up-to-their-colonial-past.
[4] Anderson Fernando Rodrigues Mendes, “O Mito Do ‘Bom Colonizador Holandês’: O Imaginário Sobre a Colonização Holandesa Em Pernambuco” (thesis, 2019).
[5] The word civilized is used in reference to a conversation the author had with a Dutch colleague during which the colleague affirmed that they were “more civilized” in the Netherlands than in Islamic countries.
[6] Cath Pound, “How the Dutch Are Facing up to Their Colonial Past,” BBC News, February 24, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210601-how-the-dutch-are-facing-up-to-their-colonial-past.
[7] “Netherlands - Wid - World Inequality Database,” WID, accessed December 11, 2023, https://wid.world/country/netherlands/.
[8] Cbs, “How Many Families Are at Risk of Poverty?,” CBS, January 17, 2022, https://longreads.cbs.nl/the-netherlands-in-numbers-2021/how-many-families-are-at-risk-of-poverty/.
[9] Denise Ferreira da Silva, “ON DIFFERENCE WITHOUT SEPARABILITY,” 32a Bienal de São Paulo (dissertation, 2018).
[10] Laura Pereira Furquim and Camila Pereira Jácome, “Teorias de Gênero E Feminismos Na Arqueologia Brasileira,” Revista Arqueologia Pública 13, no. 1[22] (2019): 255–79, https://doi.org/10.20396/rap.v13i1.8654825.
[11] Ismatu Gwendolyn, “There Is No Revolution without Madness.,” There Is No Revolution without Madness., November 9, 2023, https://ismatu.substack.com/p/there-is-no-revolution-without-madness.