Isidro Pérez García
MFA Thesis Show:
El Des-Archivo del Campesino Urbano
The Un-Archive of the Urban Campesino
The Un-Archive of the Urban Campesino
Art work by Isidro Pérez García
Installation view of El Des-Archivo del Campesino Urbano, 2022.
The project El Des-Archivo del Campesino Urbano / The Un-Archive of the Urban Campesino is an artistic attempt to engage with the complex question of how to reconnect with indigenous worlds from the positionality of a de-indigenized indigenous person – uprooted by centuries of genocidal violence inflicted on the original peoples of Ixachilan (or the Americas) by the nation-building and citizen-making/ unmaking projects of both México and the United States. The project is a gallery installation of thirteen artworks centered on this question, as well as the networked and layered processes of art-making and of “thinking with things” that produced the final art works. The campesino urbano named in the title of the project is part of an undocumented migrant diaspora who migrated from rural México to the cities of the United States. This project follows the ethical idea that who I am, where I am, the context from which I engage, and how I engage – and the relationship between those things – are important and world-making ideas. As a whole, the Des-Archivo is about making – making and materiality as the basis for how we engage in the world – and how we algorithm the world through our making.
Mica Chueca / Fake Green Card: Evidence of the Illegality of the System, 2021. Oil on reclaimed wood that came from the carpentry woodshop where I used to work as an undocumented worker. The painting is an oversized reproduction of a fake green card, the first one that I purchased in order to work in the United States.
Ixachilan Pocket Codex, 2022. Collage, text in English and pictographs. Mini-codex created using images from the Codex Nuttall and other clip art. The codex introduces alternative vocabulary for describing time, ways of knowing, and the border. The mini-codex is reproduced on a single page folded into an accordion-style book. Copies given away at thesis show.
Floritinta Codex, 2022. Deconstructed book “Wall Chart of World History,” photographic prints of illustrations done using pencil and cochinilla, prints of greeting card collages, dried flowers, and stitching with embroidery thread.
10-Year Unbook (Notebook & Box), 2007-2017. Notebook: lined notebook with collaged pages from found materials, created over a period of ten years. Box: wood from the carpentry shop, image transfer, hardware, handle received as a gift. Displayed under plexiglass.
10-Year Unbook (Microfilm Machine), 2021. Collage notebook preserved on black-and-white microfilm and available for viewers to look at using a 1968 3M 400M Microfilm Reader, purchased from UCSD Surplus Sales.
Pelota Unbook: Un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos, 2021-2022. Paper mâché, tabletop lectern, book ends, tinted mirror tiles, video projection. With video projection mapping, two videos are projected onto a paper mâché ball using tinted mirrors to wrap the ball in light.
Grabé en la penca del maguey / I carved on a maguey leaf, 2020-2021. Engravings on maguey leaves. This is a series of 13 carved maguey leaves (or pencas), all taken from suburban California yards, and carved using the púa (point) of the maguey leaf.
Máquina del des-tiempo / Untime Machine, 2021. Engraved maguey leaves, ixtle (maguey fiber), reclaimed wood, tree branches, wire, beads, feathers, and sound element.
The Angry Maguey, 2019-2020. Living maguey plant with engravings, originally from my front yard where passers-by interacted with the plant, now planted in an engraved tire as a maceta (flowerpot).
Campesino Urbano Video, 2022. Compilation of videos that were recorded during the making of the Des-Archivo artworks. Designed in collaboration with José Luís Gallo, @elgallofilms. Video stills shown at right. Click the image to see the video.
Sacrificial Hearts/ Corazones Chuecos/ Unbricks, 2020-2022. Castings from adobe, clay, wood ash, and charcoal, all materials originating from my back yard. Decorated with beads, coins, nails, and other found objects either gifted or from around my household.
Spiral Table, 2022. Constructed from scrap wood pieces from the carpentry shop where I used to work as an undocumented worker. In collaboration with my brother Martín Alvarado. At right, the table is shown under construction.
Campesino Urbano Soundtrack, 2022. Mix of sounds that were recorded during the making of these artworks. Soundscape designed in collaboration with Greg Camphire, @spookyactionlabs. Click the image to listen to the soundtrack.
Pulquería Chilote, 2022.