From the Series Transcoding the Museum, Healing Tool, Edition 2, Inkjet Prints, 13 x 19 inches, clay modules, exhibition view, January 17th, 2025, Morean Arts Center, Saint Petersburg, Luster Exhibition, Ceramics from Florida Universities. Photo © Alian Rives' Studio
Healing Tool comprises photographs that showcase Pre-Columbian artifacts from the Kislak Center and the Lowe Museum. These images illustrate glass displays and wall labels accompanying each object. Employing the Photoshop spot healing brush tool, we remove artifacts from the glass displays in the photographs, revealing only the empty glass boxes' background. The lower register of the images takes precedence, presenting crucial information such as date, location, name, and associated "functionality." Hand-built clay and terracotta supports were modeled after the museum's current supports for its artifacts, many of which are made from wood or cardboard. By using the same material—clay, and terracotta—as the objects these supports primarily hold, I created a series marked by imperfections and indexicality, mirroring the qualities of the artifacts themselves. Healing Tool suggests the repatriation process, where institutions and museums return significant cultural items and human remains to lineal descendants or descendant communities. This series extends its narrative beyond visual aesthetics. This initiative deliberately aligns with the discourse of decolonization. The main goal of this project is to showcase the removal of the functionality of these cultural artifacts. We argue that these objects similar to the ready-made lost their purposes when placed in another context and cultural environment through a constructed institutional narrative.  In essence, Healing Tool invites viewers to reflect on the complex interplay between preservation, representation, and the ethical considerations surrounding the return of cultural heritage. It serves as a visual and conceptual catalyst, prompting conversations about the responsibilities inherent in the stewardship of cultural artifacts and the ongoing pursuit of healing and reconciliation.    Within the history of modern art and aesthetics, the gradual elimination of elements that traditionally characterized visual arts, which results in emptiness, was the most relevant phenomenon over the past two hundred years. In Western culture, emptiness is associated with a lack of meaning or sincerity, but in Eastern culture, emptiness is a synonym for creative void: a state of complete receptivity and perfect enlightenment.