Lisl Ponger:
“Antonio Pereda’s almost photographic portrayal of the 17th century world with its realistic presentation of the insignia of the worldly and spiritual powers gave me the idea of addressing the power structures of our post-colonial times in Pereda’s “language.” As in many of my works, the problem of representation then arose: As a white artist, how can I or may I portray stereotypes from a critical perspective without falling into the trap of feeding them into a visual cycle once more?
The result of in-depth discussions with Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur, a black Austrian theorist, was to destroy the still life in a deliberate and controlled way – not just to switch, remove, or disarrange objects, but to destroy the whole art-historical reference framework in order to make room for the possibility of new pictures.”