Deságua (River Empty), 2022
Glazed ceramic tiles, wood
20 murals. 150 x 120 cm each
Commissioned by the OPENART Biennial, Lucas Odahara's work Deságua (River Empty) is a series of ceramic tile murals installed in the Svartån River in Örebro, Sweden. Partially submerged in the water, the five murals portray compositions of sleeping male bodies juxtaposed with water vessels. The bodies in the murals are painted after works by canonic painters such as Jean-François Millet, David Hockney, Lucian Freud and Rembrandt, among others. Questioning the position of men in the construction of Western narratives, the work is inspired by water rituals (ablutions). In this work, water plays a central role as a space of transition and for renegotiating the masculine. The work’s title Deságua, which in Portuguese means the act of emptying out water, puts focus here on the effects of this process upon the images Odahara installs in the river. What does the river take, what are its intentions, and where does it flow into? In Deságua (River Empty), men and history are left afloat, subject to the river’s will.
Images: Installation view at OPENART Biennial. Örebro, Sweden 2022
