Latex tree project 2006 The rubber tree

Making a rubber tree in rubber - Sao Paulo Biennial,

Invited by the curatorial team of theSao Paulo Biennial, I proposed obtaining a plant that my Herbarium of artificial plants did not yet have. A rubber tree made of the same material as the tree. For two months we bathed a rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) with latex; When the material dried, we removed it from the bark of the tree and obtained a copy of its skin.

The history of the exploitation of rubber carries deep wounds to the indigenous populations of the Amazon, as well as to the worker colonies. A story marked by conflicts, from the atrocities of the Arana house, going by national wars, until various cultural productions such as La Vorágine nor the mythical Werner Herzog´s film Fitzcarraldo.

CUT 1.jpg

Rubber Tree Project, 2006

knot.jpg

Color photograph 100 x 100 cm.
....At 15 meters high, we have the final central knot of a rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) covered with vulcanized rubber.
"Rubber Tree" project, 2006