I recently completed this installation titled “PACHAMAMA VS. CAPITALISM : PLANETA O MUERTE.” The installation was a part of the exhibition “Let’s Talk of a System” which was the inaugural show for the new partnership between Intersection for the Arts and The Hub Bay Area.

The group show closes this Saturday, July 3, 2010 so be sure to check it out if you are in the San Francisco Bay Area. The exhibit features the work of April Banks, Sergio De La Torre & Vicky Funari, Suzanne Husky, Laura Parker, James Reed, Banker White and myself, Favianna Rodriguez.

Intersection 5M Gallery – 901 Mission Street @ 5th. San Francisco, CA 94103

My piece was inspired by a blog written by my friend Roberto Lovato about World People’s Conference On Climate Change and the Rights Of Mother Earth, which gathered in April 2010 in Bolivia as a fresh alternative to the Copenhagen Climate Change conference. 

Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, opened the conference by shouting “Planeta o Muerte!” (Planet or Death). This is exactly what we are facing, a choice between saving Mother Earth, our Pachamama, or dying. Both our survival and her survival are non-negotiable. The detrimental consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly familiar to all of us. Around the world, we are witnessing rising sea levels, severe and unpredictable weather, frequent storms and droughts, and less reliable water supplies. Toxic waste is poisoning our land, air, and water, while an alarming number of humans lack access to clean potable water. Our addiction to fossil fuels is placing the planet’s life-systems in a desperate situation. The climate crisis is being driven by greed.

Climate change is not only an issue of environmental policy, it’s an issue of justice and human rights. The most affected by the climate crisis in the world are people of color, indigenous peoples, and low-income communities. Global warming is a direct consequence of a capitalist system that has caused exploitation, abuse and contamination, destruction, degradation and disruption of Mother Earth, putting life as we know it today at risk.

There is a human face to the devastation and it’s yours and mine. The time to act is now.

Excerpt from the Proposal Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth –

Mother Earth is a living being.

Mother Earth is a unique, indivisible, self-regulating community of interrelated beings that sustains, contains and reproduces all beings.

Each being is defined by its relationships as an integral part of Mother Earth.

The inherent rights of Mother Earth are inalienable in that they arise from the same source as existence.

Just as human beings have human rights, all other beings also have rights which are specific to their species or kind and appropriate for their role and function within the communities within which they exist.

 

Here are images of the process to install this piece:

Above: Squares of luan material with the silkscreen tile pasted on. 

 

Above: Background installed before any layers were put on.

Above: Stencil that reads PLANETA O MUERTE

 

Above: My friend Leslie spraying the words on to the wall. 

This installation would not have been possible without the help of other artists and friends. Thank you to Bobby Nicholson, Carolina Aguirre, Maria Beddia, Kevin Chen, Leslie Lopez, Cesar Maxit, Jesus Barraza & Roberto Lovato.