Almost Not contemplates on the thresholds of meaning reached through new asso- ciations between objects and their recontextualizations. Here, the principal object being military field gurney stretchers, Zamuco re-imagines their appearance by counter-weighting them with other objects devised from either personal histories or formal transgressions. Light, sound, vid- eo, and print are just some of the elements that accompany the gurney stretchers’ new design which are painted in chrome and are wrapped in leather jackets, prompting new readings from their original function against a kind of sleek, minimal, and modernist aesthetic more associated with comfort rather than death.

Military field gurney stretchers, while they symbolize imminent danger or even the possibility of death, are transformed within a new context--one which can transport meaning, or moreover, a narrative. Culled from Zamuco’s own memories of tales about war and its overarch- ing theme of life suspended, either on its way towards revival or demise, the different permuta- tions bestowed on the stretchers refer to this state: between the throes of being or not; of surviving or decaying; of an ‘almost-life’ against a lifeless field struck by violence and impunity--which is not too far from the present state of things.

Eric Zamuco’s Almost Not serves as a paean to the suffering body, guised under the neat and modish quiescence of leather and chrome. Jackets, pants, and skirts that are fitted to the stretchers become indices to a persona, to the men and women who have reached the threshold of their existence and are carried away to a certain fate. Their new appearance, in Eric Zamuco’s construction is their re-appearance. One that makes its way to new meanings, one that suggests signs of life.

Words by Cocoy Lumbao

Eric Zamuco (b. 1970, Manila, Philippines) received his MFA from the University of Missouri in 2009. Having relocated from Manila to Missouri in 2005, to Massachusetts in 2009, and back to Manila in 2012, Zamuco’s body of work has been about filtering his own displaced experience. His subject matter tackles notions about home, belief, identity, post-colonial narratives, to the need for reclamation of space. His works are of a diverse range of media, include sculpture, installation, photography, drawing, video and performance. He was part of the 2015 Alliance Francaise de Manille Philippine Artist Residency Program and was also a recipient of the Ateneo Art Awards in 2005 and 13 Artists Award in 2003. His recent solo and group exhibitions were held in Manila, France, and Hong Kong.

Cocoy Lumbao (b. 1977, Manila, Philipipines) is an art writer and visual artist based in Manila, Philippines. He has regularly written exhibition notes and catalogues for several galleries in Manila and abroad, and had his essays published by local and international magazines. He currently teaches Art History at the University of the Philippines’ College of Fine Arts.