Titanossauro, Museum of Ashes, 2019 Archival inkjet print 30 x 40.25 inches (76.2 x 102.2 cm) Edition 1 of 6 VM 18507 © Vik Muniz — *Titanossauro, Museum of Ashes*, 2019 Archival inkjet print
30 x 40.25 inches (76.2 x 102.2 cm) Edition 1 of 6
VM 18507
© Vik Muniz

By Emilia Pesantes

Sikkema Jenkins & Co. currently houses two separate works by artist Vik Muniz, Surfaces and Museum of Ashes. The main room is dedicated to the former, which speaks to the practice of painting and encourages viewers to consider the physicality of the medium in order to understand it differently. The real treasure, though, is in the latter – tucked away in the back room.

Museum of Ashes refers to the tragic fire that devastated the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro in 2018. The fire, which took many historical artifacts with it up in flames, left some items to be saved and potentially restored from the ruins. One creative act of restoration came in the form of Muniz’s mission to aid archeologists and anyone involved with conserving what little was left of the cultural institution. They may not have known what exactly would come of it, but by granting Muniz access to what they were finding, archeologists were giving him the resources necessary to make art of tragedy.

Muniz was able to recreate specific items lost (i.e. skeletons, paintings, sculptures and more) by using the very ashes of what was presumably gone for good. Every piece in this particular exhibition is either a photograph or a sculpture, infused with the ashes of its lost counterpart or made entirely of it by arranging its residue on a clean black or white surface. The latter results in photographs that look more like drawings and is exemplary of most of the work on view in the Chelsea gallery.

Museu Nacional, Museum of Ashes, 2019 Archival inkjet print 50 x 90 inches (127 x 228.6 cm) Edition 1 of 3 VM 18489 © Vik Muniz — *Museu Nacional, Museum of Ashes*, 2019 Archival inkjet print
50 x 90 inches (127 x 228.6 cm) Edition 1 of 3
VM 18489
© Vik Muniz

Paleolithic skull (Luzia), 11,243-11,710 Years, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Museum of Ashes, 2019 Archival inkjet print 40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Edition 1 of 6 VM 18495 © Vik Muniz — Paleolithic skull (Luzia), 11,243-11,710 Years, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Museum of Ashes, 2019
Archival inkjet print
40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Edition 1 of 6
VM 18495
© Vik Muniz

In the first of two small rooms, a massive photo of the ashes put together to recreate the national museum itself hangs alone, almost proud, on the gray wall. It is, appropriately, the largest print up and deserves to be approached face-to-glass. It is only then that viewers can properly admire the painstaking detail gone into creating every edge of every window on the front face of the “Museu Nacional.” It is also then that viewers can even begin to understand that what they are looking at is flat, with no texture other than the smooth surface of an inkjet print and the glass frame that covers it. The photos, being of tremendous quality, have the potential to fool spectators. They appear as if they should be touched and make one believe, even for a split second, that if they do touch the photo, a remnant of history will be left on their finger.

Museum of Ashes, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, 2019. Photo: Jason Wyche — *Museum of Ashes*, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, 2019. Photo: Jason Wyche

This quality persists in all of Muniz’s photos and so into the next room where, among others, there is a photo of the recreation of a sarcophagus from 750 B.C. and seashell fossils from 45 million years ago. This method of restoration may not be traditional but has proven to successfully and creatively maintain pieces of history both through the act of recreating with ashes and the act of taking the picture itself. By demanding lines to be drawn between mind and matter, Muniz not only helps to preserve a culture but also shows the beauty that can still be found in destruction.