Cargo And Decoy by Roberto Chabet

Cargo and Decoy installation view

I had never heard of cargo cults in the South Pacific islands before I came to view Cargo and Decoy, Roberto Chabet‘s ongoing show at MO Space.  What a fascinating notion, the idea of an actual religion that believes in obtaining blessings through creating crude facsimiles of objects or situations that they long for. Sounds like something you’d only read about from Tintin’s adventures.  You can’t help but agree with Mr. Chabet when he likens the artistic process to a cargo cult’s  ritual of constructing decoys based on real life. In the end, does the decoy become just as real as the original?

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