Untitled [For Felix, Summer 24], Film, 2024
In homage to Felix Gonzales-Torres I am presenting a self-portrait in the form of a list. The list is chronologically itemized; every item is one that I found on the streets, used, or kept while traveling in Buenos Aires. I think it’s indicative of my own behavior and a retrospective way to look at relationships to place as a traveler - reexamining our relationship to discovery and what we discard. Felix often used blue in his works, and here I included this element as it is Argentina’s national color.
I included an asterisk within the piece which was meant to draw your attention to this important supplemental interaction:
* “I try to mostly stay with locals. As I ate one of the listed oranges at breakfast, I threw away the peel. I returned later that evening and was informed by my host in her broken English that she “had rescued” the orange peels from the trash. She had scraped the pith and dried the delicate zest which was prepared a few days later in a herbal tea that she made and then shared with me.
The irony here is found in a perpetual loop of discard and reuse. I was intrigued that I “rescued” an orange off the street, threw away the peel, my host found the peel, and used it to serve me tea in a dainty cup. Before this I had considered myself not wasteful - yet after reusing what someone else had discarded I did the same thing and discarded it yet again. As a foreigner and guest I was given a new perspective of where I perceive value from this Argentinian woman. This tea was complex and expertly made- I was impressed by how delicious it was to sip, she insisted on me adding sugar and honey. I was too embarrassed and never mentioned that I had found this orange on the street and wondered what her reaction would have been. I have lots to learn from others.“
I find foraging empowering and am fascinated by how we perceive and relate the things around us as aspects of our personhood - this becomes more obvious to me when traveling. Also, my awareness of others' reactions fascinates me. It is often informative to see the look of horror on others' faces as I take something perceived as trash; it is a reflection upon the value of human labor in things of no said value. I often reflect on how we are different when we travel then in our “normal” environments. Consider not only how you can reuse and waste less but benefit from changing our perspective of each.
