#Metanarrativas Collective Show
Universidad Iberoamericana
Prol. Paseo Reforma 880, Sta. Fé
Mexico City
[Website, emojis, QR code]
“Part of the problem of the contemporary political life lies within the fact not everyone in the world counts as a subject. Multiculturalism presupposes that certain communities are already constituted, whose subjects are already established, when what’s really at stake, it’s the existence of some communities that are not recognised as such, of some subjects that though living, are not considered to be alive.”
Judith Butler, Frames of War
What does it mean to grieve endlessly, when a body, the pure essence and recognition of someone in this world has been perpetrated, erased or tortured? When did words like rights, truth and critical information were highjacked from our dictionaries leaving behind, a now, meaningless text? Will our forests be depleted soon, our riches, monopolised?
The fight against obsolescence is brutal in the actual Mexican scenario. As impune actions, disappeared or murdered bodies keep piling up everyday, it’s hard to fathom the meaning and the ethical response of any society must have against these violent acts.
This project intends to fight immediacy and oblivion by developing emojis for the actual Mexican scenario. These people have been silenced, dissappeared, abated while seeking justice or are actors of impunity, violence and chaos. With the constant use of these small, digital images through mobile devices and social media, a certain resistance can be created.
Ultimately, in the same way Shigetaka Kurita (emoji creator) unknowingly created these not only as a response to ordinary things, emotions and common activities, this project also pursues the ability to generate a new alphabet by the “externalisation of internal images“, ones that will try to solidarize for brief moments, the soul of the fragmented Mexican society.
People in the show were invited to scan a QR code that took them to a website developed for the project.
Special Thanks to Ivonne Lonna Olvera.