Romson Regarde Bustillo

Residency Programme: December 2021 – January 2022
Web

December 2021

My project is tied to research and corresponding body of work catalog under Proximity Modifiers. These works investigate the role place, context, visual cues, and “privilege” information take in shaping how we process our understandings; how we interact as individuals and in groups within and outside of various iterations of community.

At this stage of my stay in Blanca, this involves observing and exploring the town and nearby terrain; the commute to metropolitan Murcia and Alicante (which I’ve purposely done multiple times) and more distantly Madrid and Barcelona. These moving abouts—on foot, buses, and trains—have been the source for contemplations of which the work-in-progress presented here touches on.

Though the poem “Segura” is completed, its place within the Proximity Modifiers landscape is still forming. For one, it’s yet to be translated in multiple languages; specifically Filipino/Tagalog, Bisaya/Cebuano, Spanish/Castellano, and Catalá/Valenciano. Tongues and respective cultures that intersect on a continuum of circumstances (if not parallel circumstances) where violence, hybridity, practice hierarchies, migrations, cultural détente, and acceptance alternate proximities.

The combination of ambient sound and music (Ben Hunter on the marimba) is from the last iteration of this project which was held at Pier 62 in Seattle WA in 2020 with support from 4culture (@kc4culture) and Friends of the Waterfront Seattle (@friendsofwaterfrontseattle).

My sincere appreciation to the Artist Trust Community (@artisttrust) community for supporting my works (Artist Innovator Award 2020)

January 2022

Bustillo’s research in Blanca and Centro Negra draws from a body of artworks cataloged under Proximity Modifiers. These investigated the role place, context, cues, and “privilege” information take in shaping how we process understanding. He asks questions regarding how we claim presence, revisit truths, and break constructed designations of place. How do we interact as individuals and in groups within and outside of various iterations of community?

The mandala diffused political power model of pre-colonial/pre-Abrahamic Southeast Asia emerges as a recurring theme for Bustillo to measure and weigh observations. Though related to spiritual and esoteric considerations associated with the idea of a mandala, the model considers and refers to the concept of multiple concentric sources of power, influence, and information transfer – coexisting, negotiating, and, at times, conflicting.

Bustillo approaches cultures – specifically, cultural references – that intersect continuum or parallel circumstances, where violence, hybridity, practiced hierarchies, migrations, culture détente, and acceptance alternate proximities. Bustillo considers these references through various lenses, including “notions of body, territory and spatiality” shared by the AADK platform.

Recognition
Support for this project provided by Artist Trust