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Cábula Raza
Project
Estética de la rudeza
Aesthetics of rudeness
Location
Diéresis Gallery, Guadalajara, Jalisco
Institute of Graphic Arts of Oaxaca (IAGO)
Museum of Art Querétaro
Year
2013
Design
Francisco Morales
Pedro Andrés
Estética de la rudeza
Aesthetics of rudeness
The project is triggered by the introduction to the prison tattoo culture and is expanded with the silent and elusive language, the visual alphabet, with which inmates communicate with each other. However, the proposal is not directed to the specific tattoo or the living conditions of a human being in prison. The purpose is to exalt and value the creative processes in such a restrictive environment, where reality, if you translate it into other languages, leaves aside the rudeness and generates the strength to highlight what you ignored before, resulting in a sharper expressive charge and consequently a greater emotional density.
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Reflections on how to fix the world with a wireframe
The title of the project is inspired by the Aristotelian concept of “Tabula Rasa” (clean slate), turning it, in an extraordinary phonetic coincidence, into “Cábula Raza”. This expression alludes to the survival strategies that permeate life in situations of marginalization, where every day, as the original notion indicates, one starts from scratch in a struggle that demands ingenuity and a popular “cabulera” malice. (According to its most generalized interpretation, cábula is “a person who, through tricks, is willing to get what he/she wants”). To walk in cábula, then, is a philosophy of life that is part of a neighbourhood dynamic, of the “Raza” (race), establishing and strengthening community ties as well as a cultural resistance that describes the social reality of our identity as a country, the art of doing everything with nothing.
Ashes we are
Although what is relevant in postmodern thought is not the facts but their interpretations, in this case, interpretation has no place. The process is sharp, clear, direct and, and although it is framed by a given sociocultural context, it transcends limitations and its specific purpose. It is not just a staging; it is an act so subtle that it explores sublime passages of human nature.
After all, in one way or another, we are all tattooed
The proposal has been created with a great variety of resources: photography, drawing, video, sculpture, installation, object art, and the reproduction of spellbinding tools. This is the reflection of the fortunate encounter of the two artists, who mixed their motivations, potentiated their creativity, and constantly fed back to each other, resulting in a wide spectrum of interpretations on the subject.
It is here where, even though art cannot restore reality, it can contribute to bringing down prejudices and humanizing the multiple ways in which we relate to others.
