Lifeguard [Amazonia]
Date:
2016
Ref:
0932
Materials:
Stretcher bed, wooden mannequin, diverse textiles, ceramic resin hands and feet
Dimensions:
70w x 188l x 188h cm
Exhibition history:
2022 La Patinoire Royale⎟Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels, Belgium; 2019 Museo Novencento and Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy; 2016 Attenborough Art Centre, Leicester, UK
Courtesy:
Lucy + Jorge Orta
Since participating in a scientific expedition to observe the effects of climate change on the Amazon rainforest in 2009, Lucy and Jorge Orta have built an extensive photographic archive of plants species from around the world, which serves as an inspiration for their practice. In 'Lifeguard Amazonia' textile flowers are reproduced larger-than-life to draw attention to their infinite diversity and fragility in an era marked by an alarming disappearance of biodiversity. Replicating the conservation techniques of early herbalists and botanists to dry plant species on linen sheets, the lifeguard figure has assembled a vibrant and diverse collection of flowers along the long linen tarpaulin of a stretcher bed. In the Lifeguard series, the stretcher bed acts as a signifier symbolising care and support; here the human figure is carrying and being carried simultaneously. Lifeguard Amazonia bears witness to extractive practices, the degradation of our natural environments, and the care needed to heal the traumas inflicted.