earth citizenship
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installation to the show “No society will emerge without commitment to diversity”*
<rotor> centre for contemporary art, Graz
Summer 2019
The piece displays symbols (of resistance) of indigenous movements, in affiliation and support to their/our struggles on preserving cultural identities, on lands rights and on survival – thus to the commitment to (bio)diversity. This concept of citizenship suggests the deconstruction of nation-states borders while searching for forms of belonging that restores the entanglements of human and other than-human individual and collective beings. It expands citizenship towards other forms and understandings of kinship, affirming that the Earth is the source of life and a living entity.
The Triple A: Andes, Amazon, Atlantic Corridor Project – is an ambitious notion of supra-national ecological corridor that covers the area that seems to be urgently recognized as a natural development for the region. It is presented on the top of a historical-political school chart that depicts the colonial history of the South American continent from 1500 onwards. This chart was published in Germany in 1977 and was found forgotten in a Grazer secondary school.
Another component of the installation is part of the “empowerment print bar” project, and it includes self-carved stamps on the topic of earth rights and earth citizenship. The highlight is a body-stamp that can be used as a temporary tattoo in solidarity to the amazonian indigenous populations. This was designed by Caviripó last February in our visit to the Rio Negro, when I was carving stamps together with the youth of the Tatuyo community. In this process, we found out that these rubber pieces could be used as a quick body painting device – a good tool for improving the community preparations for the tourists visits.
photo credits: Thomas Raggam/ Daniela Brasil
consulting/ support: Karla Barroso/ Ramon Baptista
* “No society will emerge without commitment to diversity”
No matter what it’s called in the different contexts: group-related misanthropy, ethnic profiling, racism— ”The last remnant of decency requires everybody to stand up against it.” (Michael Köhlmeier).
In the fourth and for the time being final part of the exhibition series Guerrilla of Enlightenment, works by artists are shown that deal with the equivalence of all human beings with regard to their dignity and their rights.
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