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re:kindle public arts: 'Cultivate'

re:kindle public arts:  'Cultivate'
Velvet Zoe Ramos, Cultivate, 2011, mixed media, dimensions variable.
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With this installation Ramos explores a number of contrasting issues, such as the sustainability and cycle of domestic agriculture, the growing and the lack of food as well as the binding of a mother’s stomach when she experiences extreme hunger. She attempts to unravel the link between a basic human right, human endurance and human survival. Most of us have immediate access to nourishment and we do not suffer malnutrition and starvation.
 

Ramos idea to grow seeds intertwined in a rope is challenging. Her concept entails a risk of uncertainty since she can not guarantee successful shoots.  A sprout-intermeshed robe is hanging from a branch of a lifeless tree.  On a nearby table a spoon and a plate are presented and transformed into subversive utensils. Both objects represent a symbolic meaning, express uselessness and the lack of nourishment.

With her latest work, Ramos is trying to draw attention to the drought in Africa, where mothers from poor stricken communities bind their stomachs to numb their pain of hunger. Aid agencies have already warned governments and the public of another unfolding humanitarian crisis.

 

Image: Velvet Zoe Ramos, Culitvate, 2011, dimensions variable, installation view at Queens Wood, Highgate, London

Renée Pfister, 2011