In these sixteen prints, Michael Menchaca reinterprets the racial hierarchies codified by the infamous casta paintings created in colonial-era Mexico. In response to racial mixing among Spanish, African, and Indigenous people at the time, the Spanish attempted to observe and formalize a caste system through paintings that depicted family units and their corresponding category of mestizaje, or racial combination.
Instead of painting, Menchaca has screenprinted each composition using a strict palette of six color channels, advancing from primary to secondary colors to allude to primary and secondary class status in the caste system. Menchaca also creates similar caste terminology within their compositions, a comment on the permanence of racist systems well into the present and future. Additionally, the inclusion of modern-day tech corporations into the prints subtly calls out new forms of colonization and the exploitation of individual autonomy.
