Author Archives: Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

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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.

The Illegal Airstrips Bringing Toxic Mining to Brazil’s Indigenous Land! — Ecoamazônia

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

BOA VISTA, Brazil — From 2,500 feet in the air, the dirt airstrip is just a crack in a seemingly endless ocean of rainforest, surrounded by muddy mining pits that bleed toxic chemicals into a riverbed. 32 more words The Illegal … Continue reading →

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At the Edge of the Americas | Our Remains Do Not Belong to SCIENCE | Art Conspiracy | Collecting | “Indians” and Empire — Lara Trace Hentz

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

“T.C. Cannon retrieved Native American people, as a subject, from cardboard-thin caricatures spawned by old photos, kitschy paintings, and western films. The men and women he painted are arresting and complicated.”  — The Boston Globe This slideshow requires JavaScript. On … Continue reading →

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Déforestation versus peuples autochtones – IV « Je veux avertir les Blancs avant qu’ils ne finissent par arracher les racines du ciel du sol ! »

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

« Vous ne savez rien faire de la forêt. Vous ne savez qu’abattre et brûler ses arbres, creuser des trous dans son sol et salir ses cours d’eau. Pourtant, il ne vous appartient pas et aucun de vous ne l’a … Continue reading →

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One of the most powerful moments in Oscar history — Lara Trace Hentz – And update 2022 – Academy Apologizes to Sacheen Littlefeather for her mistreatment at the 1973 Oscars

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

Nearly 50 years after suffering harassment and discrimination for protesting Native American mistreatment, the activist will be the guest of honor at an evening of healing and Indigenous celebration hosted by the Academy Museum on Sept. 17. The first time … Continue reading →

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Com participação da Funai, Operação Guardiões do Bioma combate ilícitos ambientais na Terra Indígena Yanomami! — Ecoamazônia

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

A operação Guardiões do Bioma atuou, entre 5 de julho e 7 de agosto, no combate ao garimpo ilegal e ilícitos ambientais na Terra Indígena Yanomami, em Roraima. 45 more words Com participação da Funai, Operação Guardiões do Bioma combate ilícitos … Continue reading →

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Deforestation versus Indigenous peoples – IV «  I want to warn the white people before they wind up tearing the sky’s roots out of the ground! » 

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

« You do not know how to do anything with the forest. You only know how to cut down and burn its trees, to dig holes in its floor and soil its watercourses. Yet it does not belong to you … Continue reading →

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“Nenhum governo tem garantido o pleno exercício dos direitos dos povos da Amazônia”! — Ecoamazônia

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

De acordo com Declaração, Amazônia vive sob múltipla opressão de um sistema patriarcal, racista, capitalista e colonial. A afirmação faz parte da Declaração divulgada no final do X Fórum Social, por representantes dos mais variados povos dos países Pan-Amazônicos. 33 more words … Continue reading →

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Protect Sacred Sites | Earth has a Fever | Waiapi Chief killed by illegal (gold) miners + more — Lara Trace Hentz

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

…a Message from Chief Arvol Looking Horse Posted on July 30, 2019   I, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations, ask you to understand an Indigenous perspective on what has happened in America, what we … Continue reading →

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Deforestazione vs. Popoli Indigeni – III « Cominciarono a scavare avidamente minerali dalla terra. Hanno costruito fabbriche per fonderli e produrre grandi quantità di merci… Ben presto dimenticarono la bellezza della foresta. »

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

« Hanno proliferato denaro ovunque. Volendo possedere tutti questi beni, furono presi da un desiderio illimitato. I bianchi iniziarono ad abbattere tutti gli alberi, maltrattando la terra e contaminando l’acqua… »  Davi Kopenawa, portavoce dello sciamano e degli Yanomami I popoli Indigeni … Continue reading →

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What you should know: Doctrine of Discovery — Lara Trace Hentz

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

Volume 2, Issue #11, American Logo newsletter by Bill Annett We are not descended from men who kept silent.  -Edward R. Murrow Ask an average American (or Canadian): “What is the Doctrine of Discovery?” You’re likely to get a blank stare, … Continue reading →

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