Untitled (Since Cleopatra)
2016

According to Plinio, Cleopatra and Marco Polo made a bet consisted on who could serve the most expensive dinner, Cleopatra publicly disintegrated a natural pearl in vinegar and proceeded to drink the cocktail. And she won the bet.
 

This work recreates that act in the presence of a notary public. The notary will testify that a pearl (from Bahrein, the same place that the original pearl from Cleopatra) was disintegrated in vinegar and drunk. The person who drank it, after some time will cry trying to focus their thoughts on the disintegration of values and exploitation within centuries of pearling industry. The tears produced will be carefully encapsulated in various containers the size of a (standard) natural pearl and alongside the notary´s document.

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Subjectivities are side effects of the constructions of history. Power is portrayed -both in the past and in the presente- with a focused gaze, and when one has lived long enough to witness an intentional erasure, one can imagine the uncontrollable thunderclap of a history that should have been erased like so many others, but that leaves only one option available: that of confirming it.

F.I.