written by Guenivere Decena

Evolution is a language of time at a grand scale. And like time, we cannot see it beyond the conceptual level. Only through observing the effects it has left behind are we able to recognize its reality.

The past is a keeper of truths etched in stone and oftentimes, in bones. Mikiboy Pama’s art practice do not stray far from a palaeontologist’s manner of creating a faunal assemblage where bones, decayed specimens, sketches and other such ornaments are more informational than they are aesthetic in both content and composition.

“I am not an artist. I am an explorer.“ -Pama

Indeed, explore from its original and literal sense of “uttering a cry” up to its current notion of “searching out“ (especially to investigate why) into the unknown, captures Pama’s holistic modality as an artist. For although his works are hung, static on a gallery wall, they are, in form, explorations.

On the Other Hand

Evolution is a mirror that reveals what we are now by showing us what we were in the past and what we can become in the future. For instance, the naturalist- Charles Darwin correctly predicted, before his death, the existence of a species of moth possessing specific physical traits 130 years prior to its discovery. This foresight, however, is not the kind one encounters from theatrical conjurors or fortune tellers. This predictive power of science is honed from an elaborate and elegant examination of factual data, long-term research and repeatable experimental conclusions.

One may think of experiences as codes that trigger signals to our ongoing ecological history. Tristram Miravalles takes this idea and pushes it onwards; capturing life’s morphological patterns based on what we decide in the most current moment.

“Humans will evolve based on what they choose to resist and what they choose to accept.” -Miravalles