The series proposes visualizing multispecies relationships as one organism. Our limited understanding of ecological systems and Western tendency to set boundaries and sort humans and non-humans into discrete categories, creates the need for technologies of visual rectification that allow humans to observe and acknowledge interspecific alliances.
Syagrus weddelliana (coco de macuco) and Tinamus solitarius (macuco, or solitary tinamou) are related according to the Serra dos Órgãos Natinal Park local community. Bertholletia excelsa (Brazil nut tree) and bees from the genus Bombus (bumblebees), who cross pollinate its flowers. Ficus erecta (fig in general) and fig wasps from the superfamily Chalcidoidea, who are responsible for pollinating the fig flower, building an intricate mutualist relation. In the drawing “Carolina e Joaquina” the artist takes the freedom to visualize two women in relation to the plant dandelion. Carolina and Joaquina were old aunties who used to travel alone in the 1950s, which was not common for working-class women at that time in Brazil. The stories of these adventurous women who crossed the Atlantic sea are part of the artists’ family memories.