Connor Maley and Victoria DeBlassie

The collective Hypokeimenonic Verses is made up of artist Victoria DeBlassie and writer Connor Maley, and together they scrutiniously examine the intersection between their two respective art practices: visual arts and experimental fiction.

This body of work and text explores the history of colonization both done to and by Portugal as represented by its flora. Using source imagery the duo found from the Ethnographic Museum of Messejana, Portugal, DeBlassie laser-cut: images of boats on laminated Bougainvillea petals and watermelon peels; images of Arabic writings on stone tablets onto laminated orange and lemon peels; images of the ocean seen in children’s books onto cantaloupe peels; images of colonial lace patterns onto laminated Bougainvillea petals. Also developed during the residency is a site-specific sundial installation made for the town of Messejana, called “O Sol Nos Tempos”, and situated at the Quinta da Cerca. Victoria made the sundial with materials I collected on walks around and in the town and the blue and white colors represent the colors of the buildings