j.p.mot
Hello Peril, 2020
Animated Gif
The work titled Hello Peril (2020), is an animated GIF brushing on the notion of the fear of strangeness, of the Other. The animation pokes light jabs on the subject of Asians being seen as a foil to privilege and a scapegoat for identity politics: somewhat of a buffer to gatekeeper class/race disparity and an “acceptable” output for triggered anger toward the perfect subaltern through the imaginaries of the 3 monkeys. As we are humble and nice, we nod and smile...
There’s always the component of the lived experience vs the myth of meritocracy, in which there’s constant validation of this idea of the subaltern in the rhizome of society. Who, if they (the subaltern) work hard enough and are outstanding productive members of their society, can rise above their station. Without discounting anyone's lived experience or qualitative information at hand... the problem is that it (the notion of meritocracy) is still deeply embedded in the notion of shame in line with normalizing instances of micro-aggressions toward minorities. How great do you have to become in this equation of inequity to have the same worth as the privilege to receive basic reciprocity? The myth of meritocracy extends and maintains itself through niceness and humbleness which both participate in conserving a sense of stagnation and status quo in racial disparities due to systemic and institutionalized bias.
Not For Sale
j.p.mot is a Khmer-Canadian conceptual artist born in Montreal. He completed a B.F.A. in Visual and New Media Art and an M.A. in International Development, both at the University of Quebec in Montreal; He also received an M.F.A. in Visual Art from Columbia University in New York. He took part in performance art festivals such as the Raflost Reykjavik Electronic Festival and the Montreal’s Viva Art Action!. His installations have been part of numerous group shows in Canada, U.S., Mexico, Iceland, Singapore, China and Thailand including Art Mûr (Montreal), Verticale, Laval, Espace F, Matane, Praxis, St-Hyacinthe, Judith Charles Gallery (New York City), Fisher Landau Centre for the Arts (Long Island City), Red Gate Gallery (Beijing) and Institute of Contemporary Art, Singapore. His residencies include Gamli Scóli in Iceland, SOMA in Mexico, Tropical Lab in Singapore, NARS Foundation in Brooklyn, MASS MOCA in North Adams, Red Gate in Beijing and Wassaic Project in New York. He has been supported by the Montreal Art Council, Quebec Art and Letter Council, Canada Art Council, SODEC Québec, NARS Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, and Asia Art Archive in America.