Chiquito

IMG: rt4a, CHIQUITO, 2021, acrylic, gouache, India ink and pencil on linen canvas, 49 × 42 × 5 cm
CHIQUITO

2021
Acrylic, gouache, India ink and pencil on linen canvas
49 × 42 × 5 cm
RT4A2101
Private collection
Courtesy of the artist

Audio
rt4a, Chiquito, 2022, 03’12” ©rt4a

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The title Chiquito refers to a tiny Jacquemus bag; the canvas shows a black Telfar Small Shopping Bag on a bright green ground that recalls the code rain of The Matrix (1999).

The song takes elements from the theme of The Matrix and sets them over beats inspired by Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ (1998). Its French lyrics describe the features of the Telfar bag, translated from Telfar’s official website.

The title names one bag and the painting shows another: a name and an image need not designate the same identity. I read the cues from The Matrix as a declaration for trans rights. The bag, by the Liberian-American designer Telfar, stands for inclusion, against the norms of fashion. The portrait format asks whether an object like the Telfar bag, read as a code, could take on an identity or a persona.

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