Camilio

'Lowered circle’
Cassava flour / red soil / wood glue / varnish spray paint on canvas
44,5cm x 75cm x 3cm

Color red soil is used here as ‘natural available fertile soil’ which is getting rare and disappearing because of monoculture agriculture. As a result of deforestation all the fertile soil that’s left is flushing into the rivers and into lake Malawi (raising the bottom of Lake Malawi and affecting fish population).
 

Color ‘white crème’ Cassava is in this series because it represents one of the "original" staple foods (besides sorghum, etc. ) in Malawi (and Zambia) before maize took over (as it took over diversity, the staple food market and “food” politics). Cassava represents tradition and maybe a look back to the older and maybe "better" days for some (farmers and poor people depending highly on this “easy accessible” staple food which better suited the local conditions and environment).