Antolohiya. Graphite on canvas, 27" x 36", 2022. MoCAF (Modern and Contemporary Art Festival).
Roque utilizes graphite to render objects, marks, and texts. Each object pertains to specific historical moments, arranged in a composition that allows for both expected and unexpected associations to emerge. Some of the imageries employed are straightforward—e.g., the triumvirate of bulul, Christ, and Eye of Providence clearly reference the words included in the work and the country’s history. In others, Roque brings together objects to interact and establish more complex meanings, such as the sampaguita growing from the middle finger of a hand. The softness of the rendering in Antolohiya (2022) belies the violence of colonial experience and the present conditions that it has engendered.