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Photo: Anna Kvitka/TKM.
By involvement in social and political issues, the artist often takes responsibility for pointing out errors, paying attention to critical situations and sometimes proposing solutions. Invited to select a work for The Artis Choice in 2019, Enrique Roura described his selection as follows:
“A task is given to the artist of navigating the museum ́s collection. The purpose of this task is to exhibit one piece of the collection around a presentation of the artist. The object I choose is catalogued and named as Leirkrukke. Høyde 17 cm Oaxaca/Zaachilo. It is a jar made out of burnt clay, and is originally from Zaachila, in the state of Oaxaca, in the south of Mexico.”
The presence of this object in the museum’s collection opens up questions about colonialism, western supremacy, looting of cultural heritage, and the legitimate ownership of the object.
Roura creates an emotional bond with the Mexican jar. He relates to the jar as a subject, making it a co-conspirator and a symbol that represents many other objects that are in collections and archives, far from their origins.
