nessa terra, em se plantando, tudo dá (in this land, whatever is planted will grow), 2015
wood, glass, water tank, air conditioner, thermometer, irrigation and fertilization system, timers, earth, fertilizers and pau-brazil tree
200 x 50 x 50 cm
photo Mario Grisolli

Reporting the arrival of the Portuguese caravels to Brazil, the work reflects on the land occupation of Terra Brasilis by the Portuguese. The Taipa and Pilão construction technique was widely used in construction during the Brazilian colonial period, becoming the main construction technique used in the homes of the country’s land occupation. The seedling of Pau-Brasil will grow in the greenhouse until its roots and branches destroy the very structure that allows its growth. This violence imposed on the greenhouse’s architecture, refers to violence that applied to the native people of Latin America by the colonization process.

By destroying the structure that contains the Pau-Brasil seedling, the plant is doomed to its own destruction, thus conditioning its existence to its imprisonment.