Ripple and Shear at Casa Lu, Mexico City 2017
“It is good counsel, that when a spirit of fervour is kindled within thee, thou shouldest consider how it will be, when that light shall leave thee.”
– Thomas Á. Kempis, The Imitation of Christ from a chapter titled “Of concealing grace under the guard of humility”
It shall remain the genuine modus operandi for postcolonials to consider our real and theoretical positions and positionalities. We are befuddled, by centuries of imperialisms and white supremacies, to the point that we are reminded daily that what we are trying to recover has been lost for generations. It was like learning about an ancient Sanskrit writing that my siblings and parents and parents’ parents, possibly my parents’ parents’ parents, could not even recognize or try to recognize at all. Yet we still imagine being, accepting as a fact, descendants of giants who built earthly monuments based on the language of the nighttime sky. How do we attempt at cutting through palimpsestic documents and experiences? We invent forensic ways to return to healing powers of volcanic rock and precious metals which we know from use that they are practical, especially if they are practically bodily extensions for survival. We expose tools for their weaponry. While exploring the etymological history of European words, we teach ourselves about the root of aplomb, then wholeheartedly connect the action and state of standing upright to lead.
Edwin Ramoran
Independent curator
Los Angeles 2017
