"Pink Painted Lady"
“What does it mean to “haunt the record”?
When does a presence or a trace become so
deeply etched into a surface that it merits a
claim to durability simply for being so difficult to
repress, resolve, deal with, and put away? The
endurance of multiple claims to land and other
scarce material resources often rests on the
apparent impossibility of arranging a palimpsest
of signatures and other inscriptions rendered
illegible by accumulation over a long time, and
across many generations. In a sense, this is why
the contingent and temporary character of the
Kowloon Walled City endured for as long as it did.
There is of course the delicate irony of the fact
that the protection offered by its juridical
anomaly with regard to sovereignty – a
constitutional Freudian slip with consequences
– was erased the moment Hong Kong reverted to
China. The autonomy of being a wedge of China
in the middle of Hong Kong became moot the
moment Hong Kong was restored to Chinese
sovereignty. Resolving the question of Hong
Kong’s status automatically resolved all doubts
and ambivalences with regard to claims over the
custody and inhabitation of
Kowloon Walled City” (7). RAQ Collective
Through this piece, I show what traces are etched into San Francisco after tech gentrification. I consider who has claim and custody of spaces facing gentrification and the endurance of the space and those who stand in the way of gentrification. Overlapping collage and repetitions serve to expand upon the RAQ Collectives' understanding of accumulation of ownership into the local setting of the Bay Area. Through digital replication, accumulation, and blending, I explore my own experiences of displacement, my accounts of modern colonial practices of ownership and challenge my own desire to lay claim to this gentrified space. Chaos with repetition allows me to question the effects of digital replication. Additionally, the mix of technological and organic textures and contrasting colors work to disturb the scene, reflecting my contradicting perception of San Francisco. Deconstruct the fantasy aspect of digital space via geometric and organic imagery to emphasize tech’s effect on “the real”.
