Author Archives: Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

Unknown's avatar

About Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

I'm a French artist living near Paris. From 1968 to 1973 I studied at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, then at the San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco, California, for my BFA. My work for many decades has been informed and inspired by time spent with indigenous communities. Various study trips devoted to the exploration of techniques and natural pigments took me originally to the Dogon of Mali, West Africa, and subsequently to Yanomami communities in Venezuela and Brazil. Over many years, during the winters, I studied the techniques of traditional Bogolan painting. Hand woven fabric is dyed with boiled bark from the Wolo tree or crushed leaves from other trees, then painted with mud from the Niger river which oxidizes in contact with the dye. Through the Dogon and the Yanomami, my interest in the multiplicity of techniques and supports for aesthetic expression influenced my artistic practice. The voyages to the Amazon Rainforest have informed several series of paintings created while living among the Yanomami. The support used is roughly woven canvas prepared with acrylic medium then textured with a mixture of sand from the river bank and lava. This supple canvas is then rolled and transported on expeditions into the forest. They are then painted using a mixture of acrylic colors and Achiote and Genipap, the vegetal pigments used by the Yanomami for their ritual body paintings and on practical and shamanic implements. My concern for the ongoing devastation of the Amazon Rainforest has inspired my films and installation projects. Since 2005, I've created a perfomance and film project - Fire Sculpture - to bring urgent attention to Rainforest issues. To protest against the continuing destruction, I've publicly set fire to my totemic sculptures. These burning sculptures symbolize the degradation of nature and the annihilation of indigenous cultures that depend on the forest for their survival.

Dwindling tropical rainforests mean lost medicines yet to be discovered in their plants — Palm Oil Detectives

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

About 80% of the world population relies on compounds derived from plants for medicines to treat various ailments, such as malaria and cancer, and to suppress pain. Our future medicines are likely to come from plants, but how effectively are … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

The Amazon Rainforest, Indigenous Peoples and Wildlife in Peril! – a series of short films by Barbara Crane Navarro – 9 – « Yanomami boy’s surprise friend in the jungle! » :38 seconds of Magic!

Posted on January 2, 2024 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

Sometimes we miss the most beautiful moments-DON’T MISS THIS ONE!With Namowë, a Yanomami boy in the Alto Orinoco region, Amazonas, Venezuela in his canoe! It’s an excerpt of my film of instants of the daily life of a Yanomami community … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Santa Marta White-fronted Capuchin Cebus malitiosus — Palm Oil Detectives

Posted on January 2, 2024 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

Santa Marta White-fronted Capuchin Cebus malitiosus Endangered Colombia The Santa Marta white-fronted capuchin is threatened in Colombia by habitat loss and fragmentation due to cattle ranching and oil palm agro-industries. Pet trade may also pose imminent threats to wild populations … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Very Happy New Year 2024 to You All !!!

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project
Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Uncovering secrets of the glasswing butterfly’s see-through wings! — Palm Oil Detectives

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

Most butterflies sport colourful, eye-catching wings. But some species flit about using mostly transparent wings. Researchers have now uncovered the tricks that one of these — the glasswing butterfly (Greta oto) — uses to hide in plain sight.Researchers viewed the wings of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Happy New Year’s Eve !!!

Posted on December 31, 2023 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project
Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Buffy-tufted-ear Marmoset Callithrix aurita — Palm Oil Detectives

Posted on December 31, 2023 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

These enchanting and charismatic tiny monkeys have a distinct “gothic” appearance. They live deep in the forests of a tiny area of Brazil. Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets are also known as buffy tufted-ear mamosets or the white-eared marmosets. They are New World … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

The Amazon Rainforest, Indigenous Peoples and Wildlife in Peril! – a series of short films by Barbara Crane Navarro – 8 – « Totemic Light Sculptures II – Yanomami shamanic chants – Mixed media art installation » 1:19

Posted on December 30, 2023 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

Yanomami shaman struggle against xawara – the smoke of epidemics – art installation with sounds of many Yanomami shaman chanting to protect the community! The Yanomami shaman who fight the xawara epidemic diseases see their image appear in the form … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Caecilians: secretive, strange and slithering underground dwellers in tropical rainforests! — Palm Oil Detectives

Posted on December 30, 2023 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

OK, Ok…I know this is quite a scary photo but hear me out. Caecilians are legless, eyeless creatures live secretive, strange lives underground and underwater. Not quite snakes, not quite worms and not quite amphibians either. Once you know more … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

The Amazon Rainforest, Indigenous Peoples and Wildlife in Peril! – a series of short films by Barbara Crane Navarro – 7 – « Totemic Light Sculptures – Yanomami shamanic chants – Mixed media art installation I » :49

Posted on December 29, 2023 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

n Yanomami shaman struggle against xawara – the smoke of epidemics – art installation with sounds of many Yanomami shaman chanting to protect the community! The Yanomami shaman who fight the xawara epidemic diseases see their image appear in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments