Carlos Castro
Carlos Castro is an explorer and interpreter of anachronism. His work is based on the appropriation of historical images and the formal and symbolic recontextualization of found objects. He explores individual and collective identity by highlighting viewpoints and narratives that have been ignored in historical discourse, while drawing on images and historical references that he ironically renounces in the present. His pieces challenge the hegemonic narrative and its aesthetic references, as well as those who have traditionally been represented and those who have been rendered invisible. Castro disrupts the known, questioning and dismantling the past to serve poetic associations.
One of the recurring themes in Castro's work is the resignification of images derived from the collective imagination to facilitate their interpretation and appreciation. Themes such as nationalism, militarism, monumentalism, and unofficial history are essential to his exploration. Castro delves into the sarcasm and satire present in medieval folk art, adapting it to address the fears, modern punishments, characters, and stories that have shaped contemporary myths of a nation.
Castro is keen to learn about the historical processes and cultural events that have fascinated him. That is why he works with images and objects that already possess their own histories; he recognizes their timelessness and reconceptualizes them to illustrate how contemporary microhistories can communicate and connect with universal history. This method of contextual understanding allows him to grasp his own sources, identity, and direction, prompting reflection on his own life.
“I find a contemporary object and link it with something from the past. An exercise that reveals an anachronistic relationship that I find interesting. This object carries inherent meaning and allows for the creation of connections between spaces, institutions, contexts, and different temporalities.”
