Pantheon of Broken Men and Women
Slavs and Tatars
We break. Into fits of frenzy, intellectual rigour, or pathos. If to be broken is Slav, Tatar, or Finno-Ugric, then to break is WASP and Jute.
Slavs and Tatars daydream. Picking up the pieces from an oft-shattered vase, we glue them back together defiantly, knowing full well the vase will be tipped over once again by a clumsy history. When we dream, it is a heavy, almost catatonic dream. One so removed from reality that it redeems the very radicality of what a dream originally suggested: another world, not this one, one where things were not possible but impossibly possible.
The Pantheon of Broken Men and Women will be a tribute to those individuals who have been shattered by a certain suspension of disbelief. As pantheons are more often than not dedicated to the victors (whether during their lifetime or via history), this will be an inverted pantheon, dedicated to the defeated.
This project is co-sponsored by Stand-Up Comedy, Portland, with thanks to Diana Kim.
Image:
About the Author
Slavs and Tatars is a faction of polemics and intimacies devoted to an area east of the Berlin Wall and west of the Great Wall of China known as Eurasia. Redeeming an often forgotten, romantic sphere of influence between Slavs, Caucasians, and Central Asians, the group’s work has been featured in a wide range of international venues and publications. Later this year, Onestar Press will publish an artist’s book based on the Pantheon of Broken Men and Women poster. More information can be found at: http://www.slavsandtatars.com/