By Erica Enriquez
Cement, tire, inkjet print, shellac, wire mesh
21.5” x 21.5” x 2”
1 of 3
The word tire, is a shortened form of the word attire - meaning to clothe or dress. I imagine my junk tires before their tired arrival with me. The car once served, the roads kissed. After World War II, war vehicles were abandoned around the Philippines. In response, the local community reclaimed these discarded forms with decorative paint jobs, repurposing them as public transportation vehicles. These are known as Jeepnies.
Jeepney is a portmanteau of the post-war “Jeep” and pre-war “Jitney”. Though the term can also refer to a suitcase, that opens into two equal parts. I use performance to preserve what is designed to be disposable. I dissect the cumulative history of materials through their geological origins, cultural fluidity, and imaginative potential. I embrace the simultaneity of these qualities, their gestalt, and resemblance of me in queerness, and gesture. These elements are surrogates, carrying oral history tales of migratory resilience, resourcefulness and play. I consider joy as a tactic of political resistance. I hold an iterative practice where permutation and sampling serve as acts of regenerative gratitude. Through play, I remain steadfast in the boundlessness of creation - that everything ever made was once imaginary, and made into belief.
By Erica Enriquez
Cement, tire, inkjet print, shellac, wire mesh
21.5” x 21.5” x 2”
1 of 3
The word tire, is a shortened form of the word attire - meaning to clothe or dress. I imagine my junk tires before their tired arrival with me. The car once served, the roads kissed. After World War II, war vehicles were abandoned around the Philippines. In response, the local community reclaimed these discarded forms with decorative paint jobs, repurposing them as public transportation vehicles. These are known as Jeepnies.
Jeepney is a portmanteau of the post-war “Jeep” and pre-war “Jitney”. Though the term can also refer to a suitcase, that opens into two equal parts. I use performance to preserve what is designed to be disposable. I dissect the cumulative history of materials through their geological origins, cultural fluidity, and imaginative potential. I embrace the simultaneity of these qualities, their gestalt, and resemblance of me in queerness, and gesture. These elements are surrogates, carrying oral history tales of migratory resilience, resourcefulness and play. I consider joy as a tactic of political resistance. I hold an iterative practice where permutation and sampling serve as acts of regenerative gratitude. Through play, I remain steadfast in the boundlessness of creation - that everything ever made was once imaginary, and made into belief.