Exit Strategy

The manner in which Ore-Giron freely mixes subject matter and characters from various cultures underscores the notion that identity is fluid not fixed. "Exit Strategy," depicts a male hiding beneath a blanket as if refusing to be categorized as just another exotic human subject - cultural fodder for our insatiable desire for ethnic novelty. But the label "exotic," despite its racist overtones, may just be an accurate description of this being. He wears henna tattoos (a body art fad appropriated by whites over the past several years from India and the Arabic world); Native American - meets Elvis Presley - style fringed cowboy pants; and a shirt featuring the yellow, blue, purple, and green textile patterns of the Huichol people of western Mexico - renowned for their ritual use of the natural hallucinogen peyote. "Exit Strategy," is also a self-portrait and comments on Ore-Giron's own personal negotiation of cultural hybridity.