In the beginning the link between man and nature preserved a certain reciprocity and the ties between all sentient beings sought to be sustained; with the settlement and growth of populations, the rupture of this fragile relationship was inevitable. Western man began to think of himself outside of nature, positioning it as something to be subordinated. Thus, we reshaped ecosystems into agricultural systems, domesticated wild species to fashion them as production tools, walled ourselves into improbable structures, and sought to conquer everything within our reach.
Science, technology, industrialization, and capital became agents of destruction. The struggle for territorial control deepened inequality, and the enforcement of extractive policies accelerated the environmental crisis. The effects were felt in the jungle, rivers, highland moors, and countryside. In the transformations of an increasingly wounded landscape. And what once grew and multiplied became barren.
In the intricate tension of conceiving oneself as both individual and collective in relation to nature, five artists create images to address the impact of human interventions on native ecosystems. They reveal the contradictions of sustainability when it disregards the knowledge of local communities, stress the tensions of a production model that displaces rural populations, portray contemporary landscapes plasticized as a reflection of a patriarchal system, draw attention to the rigid geometric forms imposed by deforestation, and also imagine alternatives for coexistence and mutual respect between humankind and other species. In these visions, a solitary plant begins to mend the asphalt's fractures.
We thank the artists who answered the call.
Your work is that plant that bursts from the asphalt.
