© Enrique Chagoya
On view
Utopiancannibal.org,
2000
Printed and published by Shark's Ink
Chagoya’s multilayered work tends to be read as explicit critique: of American imperialism occluding its own violences; of global capitalism and its distinct and multiple dispossessions; of the ongoingness of all of these. But Utopiancannibal.org does more. Chagoya dislocates viewers from any simple “sense-making.” His juxtapositions ask for careful attention: the revealed viscera of Little Lulu, the swagger of the Maya figure in sunglasses. There is brutality, but there is also cheeky play here. This is how Chagoya transforms “the historical” into a problem for the present: viewers become implicated voyeurs and affectively destabilized at once. One’s own emotional responses require navigation because there is no single feeling to feel.
Monica Huerta, Assistant Professor of English and American Studies, Princeton University
More Context
Course Content
<p>Chagoya’s complex work tends to be read as a critique of global capitalism and its roots in the genocide and enslavement of indigenous and African peoples, and of American anti-historical imperialism, which occludes its own violences. But the painful play of <em>Utopiancannibal</em>.Org belies either satire or critique. Chagoya dislocates us from any easy feeling or “sense-making”; instead, his juxtapositions ask for perpetual negotiation of the violences and pleasures in the historical processes: the revealed viscera of Little Lulu, the swagger of the Maya figure in sunglasses. In this way, the artist transforms viewers into both affective migrants and implicated voyeurs of and in the present.</p> <p>Monica Huerta, Link-Cotsen Fellow and Lecturer, English and American Studies</p>
Information
2000
North America, United States, Colorado, Lyons
