Martin Machado
Region: Pacific Coast
My art stems from my experience at sea as a merchant marine,
commercial fisherman, and sailor. These jobs have brought
me around the globe many times over—from foreign ports on
international container ships to remote fishing camps in Alaska.
My work is heavily influenced by eighteenth-century etchings that
resulted from European voyaging to the Pacific. These were the
first sailing expeditions in which artists were employed to capture
images of what was discovered. I am interested in re-presenting
the moments of impact when isolated societies were confronted
with the Western world. Throughout my images, I use the
recurring theme of the floating shipping container, which is a
true phenomenon that exists at sea today. In my work, the floating
container has become a vessel for ideas about the changes that
have accompanied our increasingly globalized economy. At times,
I appropriate figures from this historical canon and juxtapose
them with figures I have encountered in my own voyaging, as
a sort of call and answer through the centuries. My aim is to
produce works that show the reverberating effects of colonialism
on contemporary tourism and trade.