Still Life 1

Bodegón performs a trans-Baroque (mis)appropriation of the pictorial genre of the bodegón (or still life), which emerged in the 17th century alongside the merchant bourgeoisie, to trace a constellation of histories of violence, dispossession and colonization that shaped (and shape) global commerce. The piece comprises a series of five essays that work both together and individually. Each essay studies the migration processes of an object: oranges, pineapples, feathers, poppies and corn. Seen together, they trace a bodegón that spans more than a thousand years, going from China to Europe and passing through Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States.