The Stain Are We Ourselves 
Alejandro Barbosa
Live streamed 3-6 April, 2018 from 9:30am – 6:30pm ET

In a time of unprecedented expansion of the use of photographic apparatuses, looking back at the planet is still an impossibility for the vast majority of individuals on Earth. The Stain Are We Ourselves aims to playfully reconsider the mediating processes through which the depiction of planet Earth is generated and disseminated. By live streaming a series of balloons imprinted with more or less accurate world maps, I attempt to parallel the precarious viewership that accepted-as-true images of the Earth suppose. (My project title is borrowed from Slavoj Žižek’s article Hurricane Irma Will Happen Again – So We Need the Answers to Some Difficult Questions about Global Politics 1)

We thank FASA Concordia for generously supporting this project.

Alejandro A. Barbosa (b.1986) is a visual artist currently living in Montréal. Alejandro will be receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Concordia University in 2018. He is currently an Undergraduate Fellow at Milieux Institute for the 2017-18 academic year, a member of Milieux’s Curatorial Research Group, and a member of LISP Reading: LGBTQ+ Photographic Reading Group. His work is concerned with the mediative depiction of planet Earth with a particular interest in universalist discourses, peripheral geographies, and consumerist culture. Barbosa also keeps a curatorial practice. As a curator, his focus lies on the expansion of photo-based practices in a long-term, cross-border conversational process. He has exhibited in Canada, the United States, Argentina, and Peru. His work is part of the collection of the Museum of Latin American Art (California, USA). Website  instagram

1 Slavoj Žižek, “Hurricane Irma Will Happen Again – So We Need the Answers to Some Difficult Questions about Global Politics,” Independent, September 12, 2017, https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/hurricane-irma-climate-change-recycling-donald-trump-rehousing-slavoj-zizek-a7942256.html.