Edison Peñafiel
Artifacts of an ancient future (GB.22.3), 2022
Terracotta. 25.4 × 15.2 × 15.2 cm.
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Artifacts from an Ancient Future brings us pieces of a culture that is both ours and very distant from our own.
The vessels in this series sit in some strange place in between, as if taken from an alternate universe where time went the other way.
On the surface of these vessels, artwork revived from an ancient Greek context tells the story of contemporary migration.
It depicts people on the roam over the land, the ones who today always carry these gallon jugs to drink from in the hot sun.
It is an ancient memory of a present phenomenon, a way to reimagine our current moment through all the misty grandeur of The Odyssey.
The vessel keeps the present together and leaves a bread crumb trail for the future to rediscover it.
The juxtaposition of contemporary shapes with ancient materials and artforms bends the idea of time around on itself, not only expressing universality but also alternative histories.
Artifacts from an Ancient Future allows us to witness the length of human history at once, while also disturbing the certainty of our own timeline enough to ask questions. How might things have gone differently? How might they unravel into the future?
The vessels in this series sit in some strange place in between, as if taken from an alternate universe where time went the other way.
On the surface of these vessels, artwork revived from an ancient Greek context tells the story of contemporary migration.
It depicts people on the roam over the land, the ones who today always carry these gallon jugs to drink from in the hot sun.
It is an ancient memory of a present phenomenon, a way to reimagine our current moment through all the misty grandeur of The Odyssey.
The vessel keeps the present together and leaves a bread crumb trail for the future to rediscover it.
The juxtaposition of contemporary shapes with ancient materials and artforms bends the idea of time around on itself, not only expressing universality but also alternative histories.
Artifacts from an Ancient Future allows us to witness the length of human history at once, while also disturbing the certainty of our own timeline enough to ask questions. How might things have gone differently? How might they unravel into the future?