Shot By Billy, 2023
On the night of September 6th 1951, William S. Burroughs, the trailblazing author of Junkie, Naked Lunch and Queer, shot his wife in front of two wtinesses in a Mexico City apartment as part of a William Tell act. He spent 13 days in jail, bribed his way out and immediately left Mexico, effectively getting away with murder. This incident is allegedly the genesis of him as an author. Haunted by her death, he fled to Tangier and began writing obsessively, bringing life to his novels that stand today as some of the most important and influential literature of the 20th century.
Unknown, Unkissed and Lost, 2023 (Collaboration with Dayana Matasheva)
..𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎. 𝐼𝓂 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎, 𝒾𝓃𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒾𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓎, 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅*𝓇𝓃𝑜𝓈. 𝑀𝓎 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝒻𝑜𝑜𝓉 𝒻𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓈𝒽, & 𝒷𝑜𝓃𝒹𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝑒𝓍𝓉𝑒𝓂𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝒾 𝓉𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒾𝓉, 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓃𝑜 𝑒𝒻𝒻𝑒𝒸𝓉, 𝒴𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂*𝓈𝓉𝓊𝓇𝒷𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹. 𝐼'𝓂 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒜𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈. 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒, 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝒻 𝒽𝑒𝓇, 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝑒𝒻 𝓂𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉𝓈 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝒾 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝑒...
Promise me you’ll never unfollow me, 2023 (Collaboration with Dayana Matasheva)
𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓈𝓎𝒸𝒽𝑒, 𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻-𝓇𝑒𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝒹, 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒷𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝑒𝓍𝓉𝒾𝓃𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃, 𝒶𝓃 𝑒𝓍𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝒶𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓉 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝓊𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓃𝓈𝒸𝑒𝓃𝒹. 𝐼𝓉 𝓂𝒶𝓎 𝓈𝓁𝓊𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇, 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑔𝑒𝓉, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝑒𝓌, 𝓎𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝑜𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝒶𝓁 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝑒𝓅𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓊𝓃𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒶𝓁 𝑒𝓍𝓉𝒾𝓃𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓈, 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝓊𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓇𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝒹. 𝐼𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒸𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒸𝓊𝓁𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒𝓈 𝑒𝓋𝑜𝓁𝓋𝑒, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑜𝓇𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓂 𝑜𝒻 𝒶𝒷𝓈𝑜𝓁𝓊𝓉𝑒 𝓈𝒸𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃. 𝒟𝑒𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈, 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓈 𝒸𝑒𝓇𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓃: 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓈𝒸𝒾𝑜𝓊𝓈𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝓎𝑜𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓂𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒾𝓈𝓉. 𝐸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓃𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎.
Martyrdom, 2022
Martyrdom is a large-scale photography series featuring self-portraits depicting four interpretations of the same saint. It is inspired by the death of Fredy Villanueva, shot by a police officer while playing dice in a Montreal park in the summer of 2008. At the time, I was fourteen; the event marked me precisely because Fredy was a Central American immigrant. Ironically, I saw myself represented in Québec media for the first time. His highly publicized death made me aware of being Latin American, an immigrant, and a threat. Since then, Fredy’s photo in a white suit at his first communion has been on my mind.
Similarly to the Catholic conception of martyrs, each image highlights various details of Fredy Villanueva's death. I explored the ways media outlets and the citizens of Montréal have been immortalizing Villanueva for the past fourteen years. For instance, different publications omitted information about his life and death to promote their political agenda, portraying him either as a guilty man or an innocent child; a thug or a saint. Each representation of Fredy turned out to be a one-dimensional caricature of a teenage martyr. Meanwhile, I am also immortalizing Fredy while, like many artists, I try to bypass death by self-canonization.
Thie series was produced during the Céline Bureau summer residency. It was exhibited on one 24in x 42in HD TV as a single-channel video with the four photographs rotating every forty-five minutes. I chose a screen over prints due to its capacity to emanate light, alluding to the spiritual nature of the project, while referencing phones and computers, the keepers of our news sources. The screen was placed on a small plinth, forcing viewers to look down on it like they would at altars and graves at cemeteries.
