killing da vinci
KILLING DA VINCI is a (ongoing) visual story about leadership in movements toward environmental justice. Environmental justice is a movement that aims to address how different groups of people are affected by policy making about environment. This acknowledges the role of power in who is accountable for climate change, water pollution, biomass destruction, and who is best suited to lead environmental justice movements. In the Americas, Black and Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by environmental issues, which constitute environmental racism. But environmental racism is just a part of environmental justice. A lot of the crisis we are going to cover with this project target communities based on race, but also on class, religious belief, etc. This project aims to cover different kinds of environmental justice crisis.
I am traveling the world to meet with local communities and raise awareness on how environmental injustice is systematically affecting marginalized groups.
I draw on Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man visually and conceptually to illustrate the consequences of exercising power over nature. The Vitruvian Man is a drawing made by Da Vinci that represents his calculations of the perfectly proportioned human form. I actually decided to focus on the concept of perfection to point out the dysfunctional parts of our Western societies.
The idea of perfection is, to me, what disconnect humans from themselves and societies from their environment. It somehow viciously teach us that we will never be enough. As man and women, mothers, fathers, siblings, we tend to think that our goal in life is to always be better, do better, reach for better. That thinking creates a disconnection between who we are and how we see ourselves.
As societies, the idea of perfection pushes to create every day more powerful, more accurate technology, and we tend to collectively think that better, faster and stronger is the way to go. This never-ending quest to perfect technology disconnects us from an important fact: we don’t have infinite resources to sustain such a production.
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And finally, for Da Vinci, perfection is White man…
I wanted to disrupt that concept and center, in my photography, members of the communities I am meeting in my travels.
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Another core concept in this work, the Great Chain of Being was also developed during this time by Didacus Valades. It illustrates white man’s exceptionalism over other beings, depicting a hierarchy descending from God to men and from men to animals and plants. Together, the Vitruvian Man and the Great Chain of Being have been used to set white man apart, and position them as exceptional entitled to other beings in service of maintaining their status.
I am taking photos of people of affected communities floating in the position of the Vitruvian Man with orbs encapsulating their hands and feet, tearing their bodies apart. The symbolism of the position disrupts the ideal of perfection and transforms it into extreme vulnerability. The orbs represent the advancement of perfection and exceptionalism with technology, developed to the detriment of other beings. The orbs are rendered in 3D and the texture and shape will be co-designed with a 3D artist to represent the resources taken from the communities (their ancestors; their homes) to enhance white man’s status among beings.
Altogether, each photo depicts the surreal irony of humanity’s quest to set itself apart while tearing itself apart.
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Travel
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So far, I have traveled in Salvador (Brazil), Cali (Colombia), Puerto Rico, New orleans (USA), Detroit (USA) and Vancouver (Canada). In each of these places I have met with local community leader and collaborated with them to create the visuals for KILLING DA VINCI.
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I would like to continue the project in different places to continue highlighting issues on environmental justice. I plan to travel to French Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, India, Sweden, France, Italy, Algeria, Nigeria, Congo DRC, South Africa
Videos
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Theresa Landrum is a community leader and activist living in Detroit, Michigan. She is defending her community from the big Oil companies that have been destroying the health of the locals for decades. Her drive and her determination were so inspiring. I hope there are many like her in the world, because we need them, now more than ever.
Kalantã Bezerra is a member of the Pataxo HãeHãeHãe Indigenous community of Bahia, in Brazil. Together, we talked about the challenges her community is facing and what could be the solutions.
Leyton Martinez is a community leader of an "asentamiento" (makeshift) of Cali, in Colombia. Together, we talked about the environmental injustices the people of his area are facing. In that sector, the community is facing poverty, climate change and pollution.
Sharon Lavigne is a local activist and community leader living in Saint James, Louisiana. Saint James is located between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, a zone called Cancer Alley. It has been years since the people in that area have developed multiple forms of cancers due to the chemical plants near from them.