More about me
One and a Thousand Masks
"To talk much about oneself may also be a means of concealing oneself" (Nietzsche, Chapter 4).
My name is Sandra Lucía Castañeda Medina !!!... but, what does my name say to the world? Of course, nothing ! So, I have to tell people who I am. Oh! Wait a moment... who am I? What a serious question! Actually, this is an eternal question I try to answer every single day. A mother, daughter, lover, friend... an apprentice, a teacher... an insignificant being for most, but the most important person for few, and they are all for me. So, an ignored, beloved, and, even, hated person... what a contradictions!
I am a tide of emotions, ideas, and desires that has sought to move the world, my world, other worlds. I am an oscillation, a fall and rise.
I studied philosophy and history in order to understand mankind, and so, to understand myself. However, I just have incomplete/fragmentary versions of what it means to be human. My humble version of what it should mean to be a human being differs significantly from what many believe. Even my version is somewhat contradictory, as I am. For instance, I do not believe the planet is our property. We are not the owners of anything ... any God placed the deeds on public record. The Age of Reason itself inherited to us hundreds, thousands of holocausts... poor rational creatures! Miserable human beings... those who only cause poverty in pursuit of $$$$$$$$$$$... what kind of wealth? Miserable human beings... those who only think about themselves and their frivolities ... poor plastic minds and bodies! Miserable human beings... those who inflict pain... those who cause death and destruction. I hate these poor people, but I am part of those poor, rational, frivolous, plastic people! What a contradiction! My paradox! But, at the end, who am I? Who cares? DADA...
I am one and a thousand masks... nothing at the end.
My dada photomontage portrays my paradox, the contradictions and mistakes of humankind: Our vacuity (plastic). Our pursuit of "perfection" through the pain, destruction, and monstrosity (pins, fire on the canvas). The way we set priorities at the expense of our minds and bodies. Dada frees me so I can play with stupidity, nonsense, and political denunciation of the human fatality. I randomly took images from magazines and news papers, and selected some recyclable materials. Then carefully I built my complaint using acrylics (black) to anchor the women in the composition. I portrayed myself with my fears. "I stripped down and saw the open bottle of nail polish on the vanity" (Pitts, 82). I played with my masks. Thus,
... and therein lies my own stupidity!
Works cited Nietzsche, Friedrich. "Chapter 4" in: Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990. Pitts, J.A. Honeyed Words, New York: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 2011.
