Ulrik López Medel

Lives and works in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Artist statement

Contextualizing contemporary culture through historical traditions and vice versa, my work draws on artifacts, motifs, oral tradition, and craft from the Americas to create sculptures, installations, and performances that address the material and metaphysical conditions of decolonization, revising traditional disciplines such as anthropology or archaeology. My practice translates research into the exhibition space by carefully considering the cultural and spiritual implications of the materials I use and the techniques I employ. Here, I enjoy the idea of things that are made to speak, to be spoken to. I think material culture through the lens of archeology provides a useful instrument for approaching the study of a society when one wishes to flee from appearances, because it directs the gaze to what people do and not, as in the case of history, to what they have decided to tell about themselves. Drawing upon my observations of my two countries of origin, Puerto Rico and Mexico, I place objects through several processes, physical and symbolic, to visualize a narrative often obfuscated by hegemonic power.

Artwork