Revealing Pathways Forward - By Learning from our Past

Whisper the name of every body marked by colonial violence. Do not move, eat or drink until you are done. -Luiza Prado

In a small room, on the second floor, near the restrooms and closed down cafe, inside of the Art Institute of Chicago, you will find an exhibition by Luiza Prado, titled All Directions at Once. While the exhibition itself spoke volumes of how colonialism has tried to control fertility of the masses of BIPOC peoples that threaten their white supremist patriarchies, I have to say, I was disappointed at how little the Museum seemed to want to prominently display the works. 

My group of fellow creatives, writers, and art critics, asked several different museum staff members multiple times where we could find the installation, but only one seemed to even know what we were talking about. This was immediately disheartening, as I was genuinely excited and super curious to see Prado’s work. Once we did find it, it seemed to be stuffed in a dark corner of the museum where relatively few people could even fit to see it comfortably and in its entirety. 

As we meandered the other rooms of the museum in our search for Prado, we found several entire large rooms dedicated to white male artists such as Andy Warhol, whose work is a simple novelty at best with underlying racist ideals at worst. I can recall one in particular titled, “Small Race Riot.” Essentially, picturing a young Black male being attacked by a police dog in the middle of a riot during the time of the Civil Rights Movement and general social unrest. The title of this work implies a belittling of what this time in history meant to many Black folks. 

Once we found the beautifully and brightly colored wall-papered room, our group gathered to take in the digital gif essay; a great choice in medium for today’s digitally driven world. I was immediately pulled into the room and filled with curiosity at the flashing and shifting images displayed on three TV displays. Prado used GIF style imagery that created unique visuals that complement the animated written content of the work. The first line I saw said, “Whisper the name of every body marked by colonial violence. Do not move, eat or drink until you are done,” with images of flowers, greenery and a familiar birth control packet collaged in the background. My brain immediately made the connection present between the quote and the visual aspect. Prado’s intention, I infer, was to state that one would perish trying to list without stopping, all the names of the hundreds of thousands, if not more, BIPOC peoples that have died in the name of colonialism and capitalist expansion.

She went on to tell a short story of her great grandmother, who asked her good friend to raise her child when she died during childbirth.

“My great-grandmother Julia died in childbirth.

She knew she would; she had seen it in a dream.

She asked her best friend Julieta to raise her daughter

(She also knew she would have a daughter).

I never met either of them, 

But I often think of the new possibilities

Opened up by their love for each other.”

This reminded me of the many instances in my Latin existence that I have heard of similar situations in which a mother raises her too young daughter’s child as her own, kept as a shamed family secret. The mother often left with little options when her adolescent daughter is sexually abused or left without access to proper birth control methods. 

In a 2018 Schloss Post interview with Prado about the larger body of work titled, “A Topography of Excess,” of which “All Directions at Once,” is part of, Prado talks more in depth about how her research really informed this GIF essay (Herman 2018). She mentions the social perspective on abortion and birth control not to mention the limited access to modern birth control methods and how that affects so many lives (Herman 2018). While there are several natural ways that historical peoples, particularly in tropical latin climates, have readily available herbal contraceptives also used to terminate pregnancy, these methods are depicted as dangerous and archaic by modern media and medicine - effectively influencing public perception. This public perception when leveraged and touted by those with power can often lead to the illegality abortion all together. 

In a 2022 post Roe v Wade world, this work is especially important for our youth to see and engage with. Prado creates visually, mentally, and emotionally stimulating work that would be better served in smaller community galleries. The communities they most relate to should have easy access to this work; especially, considering how well the technique and artistic medium will resonate within the digital worlds of our upcoming generations. This is especially true if large, well funded museums continue to only prioritize and highlight works by artists that look like their wealthy funders. 

Read the full interview and visit Prado’s online version of the GIF essay via the Schloss Post webpage here. It’s free and ungated, as radical self-care and all types of birth control methods should be world-wide.

Cited works:

Herman, Clara, Schloss Post, Digital Culture Theory & Art, Issue No 0, Radical Care and Space of Excess with Luiza Prado, Aug 13, 2018