Artwork of Mikhail Miller

Evocar y Ocultar : To Conjure and Conceal

Everyday we are influenced by the environments in which we live. The streets we walk down and the people we pass in those streets form part of our realities. For some this process becomes mundane. Travelling the same path becomes a function of the daily grind, the daily ritual of commerce. When taken out of the familiar routine of daily life and put in another place, a person may see things in a different light. The world may suddenly transform into something strange, appealing, vulgar or mystical. This has been the case with my experiences of coming to live in the city of Oaxaca for four months.

I travelled to Mexico from Victoria, Canada, a place I have lived for the last three years. The vistas of Victoria had become very familiar to me and if it was not for the occasional, freshly painted graffiti tag catching my eye I could have walked those streets blind. In Canada I often feel like a bit of an outsider. The political climate is somewhat cold like the Canadian winter. The aspirations and lifestyles of many of the people around me feel distant from the social realities that I know to be true. So in my mind I feel as though I am not relating with the society while physically I am a part of it.

In coming to Mexico I have found the opposite to be true. I feel as though the life here makes sense in ways that are more natural and human. I see in the landscapes, faces, and social habits a familiarity that reaches to the core of my being. The graphic quality of the art and textiles along with the vibrant combinations of form and colour have been a major inspiration for me. People everywhere making things with their hands. And although there are many dark corners to Mexico, as corruption and violence linger throughout the capitalist state, the people here are very much alive.

These are the thoughts I have as an outsider, for as much as I can relate to the culture and people of Mexico, as soon as I open my mouth or look in the mirror I am reminded of the fact that I am not from here. There are many things I do not or cannot comprehend. I have decided to make artwork as a way of trying to understand my relationship with this place. Just as paint rests on the surface of a canvas so too does my understanding of life here rest on a superficial level.

Conjure: to charge or entreat earnestly or solemnly
to summon by or as if by invocation or incantation

to affect or effect by or as if by magic

Conceal: to prevent disclosure or recognition of the truth
to place out of sight

What attracts us to certain ideas and actions? Is it our upbringing, past experiences, foreign desires or is it something more inherent, mystical and ancient? Often as people we conceal our emotions, opinions, and desires from the external world. There is a fear that they will not be well received, that our dreams are not worth realizing. These feelings are locked away, concealed behind the eyes of strangers. When walking down a street there are some moments when two people connect in an unspoken way. For an instant it is as though a form of telepathy is taking place. A familiar message is being transmitted but it is hard to locate in words. In our consumer society the exterior image is used as a tool to attain goals of money, sex, and power. Personal image is subverted and distorted in order to manipulate others actions. The uniforms of the police and the plastic surgery of fashion models serve as masks to make people do certain things and think certain ways. Similarly, advertising and graffiti form ideas in our surroundings.

The artwork that I have focused on making here in Mexico is concerned with the external image of a face and how a face can transmit an idea. I use a formula to create the character but each one seams to look out from the surface in a unique way. When placed in the street, these faces form a dialog with people in their daily routines. It is a way for me communicate with people I do not know. The faces peer out from the wall. They look at you so you can look back. They are greetings, warnings, confirmations, invitations, reflections. The paintings in the gallery are a result of this dialog in the street. In these images I have tried to document some of the thoughts and circumstances that have arisen from being a visitor in this place.

-Mikhail Miller Oaxaca April, 2012

`The immense growth of the drop, and the eyelid yearning to be open

never diminish, neither beside the balcony of iron hands

nor in the maritime winter of the abandoned, nor in my late footstep:

for I was born in order to be born, to contain the steps

of all that approaches, of all that beats on my breast like a new trembling heart.

Pablo Neruda - from Being Born in the Woods