Abstract
Qamaya Puka1 (35 mm film, video, 4 minutes 40 sec), is a short exploration of the preparation of cochineal pigment for nail polish, paints and fabric dyes that was shown as part of the Bad Habitus panel and exhibit that engaged with the material and discursive implications of multimodal anthropology. Using 35mm film stock as a support to document pigment, Qamya Puka1 explores the materiality of color. As film is painted with a variety of cochineal pigments that purposefully turn the film stock magenta, the film plays with the vinegar syndrome that affects color film stock. Vinegar syndrome is a chemical degradation process that turns color film magenta. This degradation process is an entropic force that moves film to an anarchival state, forcing us to contend with the limits and purpose of film as a modality of documentation and research (Hennessy and Smith 2018, Smith and Hennessy 2020). Qamya Puka1 plays with the entropic anarchival force of vinegar syndrome to challenge the coloniality of our modalities of documentation to consider the entropic force of Cochineal—as pigment and animal—and its complex connection to Indigenous histories, presents, and futures.