The Emancipation of P.P. is an exhibit consisting of nine photographic collage pieces created by contemporary artist and Southern California native, Pau Pescador.
Pescador is a transgender nonbinary-identifying individual with a growing collection of works in film, photography and performance. They graduated with a MFA from University of California, Irvine and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Southern California.
Attendees of Tuesday Talk at the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum toured around the gallery with fascination as they analyzed Pescador’s work before and after the artist’s informative discussion.
“My practice as a whole is usually dealing with the personal. I start with what I know,” Pescador revealed at the Tuesday Talk.
“Broader topics surrounding institutions that I used to talk about in my work are told through the lens of my own experiences.”
Acknowledging that their personal experiences have been radically different from others, Pescador considers the subjectivity of how they see the world around them as a grounding moment of how to interpret events that happen in their life.
Two years prior to their experimentation of expression, Pescador spent a lot of time reflecting on their relationship with presentation, gender, fabric and clothing.
The visual lexicon of the artist’s work began as a series of digital prints and materials gathered from vintage and dollar stores. Saturated shapes and patterns seen in the collages are a result of clipping still life portraits in different outfits, combined with objects related to personal moments in Pescador’s life.
At the time that the images for the collages were produced, Pescador was in isolation during the latter half of 2020, experimenting with their gender identity expression through haircuts, makeup and different clothing. As the world shut down, Pescador would find themself at home getting dressed every day, sharing selfies to their private Instagram account and building an archive of portraits.
“The fabric on my body became in itself a different color palette or pattern, mimicking the colors and patterns of the materials in my studio,” Pescador said.
“My body became a material in a different way than when I do my performance art, almost functioning like paper dolls.”
The images, produced across the timeline of a couple of years, are meshed together to demonstrate a radical shift in their physical appearance through different stages of hair lengths, facial hair and hormonal changes.
Event attendee Michael Gavin asked the artist who the primary audience of Pescador’s work is, to which they earnestly answered, “Myself.”
“How important is play, and this idea of joy and pleasure to your work?” Ana Vikram inquired. The question is relevant considering Pescador’s newer works have darker themes and heavier topics.
“I cannot make work in a way that is so directly serious, it is not fun to look at,” Pescador said.
“It always starts and ends with play, and along the way other things happen.” In response to the question, they quoted political activist, Emma Gouldman, “I don’t want to be a part of a revolution that doesn’t involve dancing.”
Pescador’s work will be on display at the Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum until Dec. 15. The nine collages displayed are a few of the many works that they currently have on exhibition, as they have another photographic and video-based solo show on view with Tyler Park Presents titled, “When the Home Becomes Body.” Their self-expressive collages document a colorful, fun and interpretive abstraction of the artist’s experiences and presentation that continue to be appreciated by the public.