Cultural anthropologists have traditionally brought assumptions of Eurocentric superiority to their studies of “primitive” societies, using language and presentations that cast the subjects in a dismissive light. Turning the tables on this practice, Michael Arcega, born in the Philippines and now a naturalized U.S. citizen, explores the quaint and curious rites and talismans of the “Nacireman” tribe of North America in his  recent exhibition “ESPYLACOPA: a place.”

Johansson Projects served as the institution housing this collection of artifacts, including large, site-specific installations. Tsaeb Dneirf (Nacireman domicile) (all works 2015) repurposes a translucent white shower curtain into an angular geometric structure thrusting from a wall-mounted platform of rough wooden slats. This airy form, about the size of a mini-fridge, is inflated by a blue hair dryer duct-taped to a black hose. Thin plastic tubes form an irregularly shaped housing containing a framed black-and-white photo of a Bichon Frisé hanging over a small sheepskin rug. This makeshift and distorted abstraction retains enough markers that signify “home” to make it resonate as a domestic space, yet remains so far removed from any actual habitable dwelling it becomes instead both darkly humorous and disturbing.

Even darker is A (Nacireman) Colonist’s Dream (Tools for conquest), an assemblage that uses an assortment of found objects, including nipple clamps, ball gag and whip, peeking from a tan vintage suitcase, with a rickety looking nautical contraption of wood, cloth and mason’s line balanced on top, evoking the mast and rigging of a sailing ship, and juxtaposing interwoven themes of colonization and oppression/slavery. A Prih-Sohn Dancer’s Dream (Isolation chamber bedding and hanging object for beating) conflates disco, prison life, Warhol and children’s games with a Liberty Bell-shaped piñata rotating above a mattress made from silver emergency blankets. Its loosely pumped-up form slumps against the wall as a dizzying laser light-show pulses. Yet another hair dryer roars, inflating the mattress. The fictive ceremonial “prih-sohn dancer” was inspired by the viral video of inmates getting down to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, suggesting the depths to which anthropological misunderstanding may sink.

Michael Arcega, A (Nacireman) Colonist’s Dream (Tools for conquest), 2015

Arcega clearly enjoys playing with words, and his anagrams, homonyms and other linguistic puzzles form an integral part of the work. A quartet of “Beisball Clubs” provides an “ethnic” vibe, morphing the idea of the major league “clubs” with that of the equipment used—the primitive “club” which it so closely resembles. One might at times recall the complex verbal and visual wordplay of “Dude Ranch Dada” virtuoso William Wiley.  Also, Arcega, who received an MFA from Stanford, surely crossed paths with Professor Enrique Chagoya, whose satirical works tread a similar terrain of exposing racism. As the U.S. reveals itself as a “melting pot” that threatens at times to boil over, with vitriolic hatred against immigrants and Donald Trump longing to erect a wall along our southern border, Arcega’s engaging work serves as a reminder that the “other” is merely a construct created to arbitrarily divide society, instilling fear of that which is unfamiliar.