Thou Art, 2016

Photo: Courtesy Mendes Wood Gallery
Collection

Neon
15 x 110 x 5.5 cm

thou art, which in old English translates to you are is a simple reminder to just be, that before any programming by society, any construct, genitalia, gender identity, skin color, class, one is. One is constantly transforming, and that one is not the body one inhabits, that one is a subjectivity that is vast, forever evolving, transforming, not an object, not a mere body. You are not Are nor are, but rather you are being, since in English one only uses the verb to be to say you are fluid as much as you are here. After entering the exhibition the first thing that takes place is subjectivity confronting  the body itself, pixelated by mirrors. You can see your own presence, performativity, your gestures. In the mirror, a text, an invitation to think about your own body, your movement throughout the space and the temperatures of gender that we carry, that we perform. This is an invitation not only to think about your own body, but also an exercise in perception and internal conscience, and in this process having a port of entry to a process of identity deconstruction beginning with the body and performativity, at this stage, linked to gender. I like to think about the theory of the holographic universe and to constantly remind myself that vision takes place in a very dark place in the brain. All this that we have as reality can be a mere consensus. In a room with 10 people, there are 10 parallel realities present, and at least 100 identities. Being that for each person in the room, there is an internal reality of how each one perceives their surroundings, and  inwardly there is that which the person thinks is, therefore an idea of self, that which the person is being, and that which this person is for the nine others observing him or her.



 – Non Binary Paucetas: A Conversation between Cibelle Cavalli Bastos and Pablo León de la Barra published by Mousse Magazine, 2016

 
Cibelle Cavalli Bastos (1978, São Paulo) is an interdisciplinary artist, independent researcher, and musician who works with several avatars and across media, including performance, installation, sculpture, sound art, text, and video. The artist deconstructs binary thinking and challenges concepts of identity. Cavalli Bastos lives between Berlin, London, and São Paulo.

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