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.

Deforestation versus Indigenous peoples – I «  I understood that our land could truly be destroyed by the white people… »

«  Then I decided to defend it, and I thought: ‘This is good! Now that the white people have invented their ‘ecology’ talk, they must not just repeat it in vain to make new lies out of it. They must … Continue reading →

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La deforestación en Brasil creció un 20 % en 2021 y Amazonía fue la mas afectada! — Stigmatis

Un hombre tala un árbol en la Amazonía de Brasil, en una fotografía de archivo. EFE/Marcelo Sayão Río de Janeiro | 18 jul 2022 Brasil perdió 16.557 kilómetros cuadrados de vegetación nativa en sus biomas el año pasado, un aumento … Continue reading →

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O if we but knew what we do: Our war on Nature — Brimmings: up from the well

“O if we but knew what we do When we delve or hew — Hack and rack the growing green! Since country is so tender To touch, her being só slender, That, like this sleek and seeing ball But a … Continue reading →

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« Non vogliamo vivere in un residuo di foresta o diventare ciò che resta di esseri umani »

« Nel loro paese i bianchi hanno già abbattuto quasi tutti gli alberi. Mantengono solo pochi appezzamenti di foresta, che hanno recintato con recinzioni… ora intendono fare lo stesso sulle nostre terre.Non voglio che la mia gente viva in un residuo … Continue reading →

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Expansão da mineração em áreas protegidas, inclusive terras Indígenas, deve levar a uma perda severa da biodiversidade! — Ecoamazônia

A autorização da mineração em áreas protegidas, inclusive terras indígenas, é uma pauta defendida pelo atual governo e motivo de preocupação para organizações ambientalistas no Brasil e no mundo. 43 more words Expansão da mineração em áreas protegidas deve levar a … Continue reading →

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Indigenous and local communities key to successful nature conservation — Palm Oil Detectives

Indigenous and local communities are key to successful nature conservation and for protecting animals from extinction. Story via Eureka Alert and the University of East Anglia. Indigenous Peoples and local communities provide the best long-term outcomes for conservation, according to … Continue reading →

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« No queremos vivir en un remanente de bosque o convertirnos en remanentes de seres humanos »

« En su país, los blancos ya han talado casi todos los árboles. Solo conservan unas pocas parcelas de bosque, que cercaron con alambrados… ahora pretenden hacer lo mismo en nuestras tierras.No quiero que mi gente viva en un remanente de … Continue reading →

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Our Consumerism: Five More Planets Earth Urgently Needed! — HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

Human Wrongs Watch By Baher Kamal MADRID, Jun 3 2022 (IPS)* – In a previous article, IPS reported on some of UNICEF’s key findings about the harsh impacts on the world’s children –and the whole Planet Earth– of the excessive … Continue reading →

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Urucum: fruto faz parte da tradição Indígena nas pinturas corporais de diferentes etnias — Ecoamazônia

Cada uma das mais de 300 etnias espalhadas pelo território nacional possui uma maneira própria de expressão, traduzida, entre outros aspectos, nas pinturas corporais indígenas realizadas com tinta à base de urucum. O fruto, cuja coloração representa um importante elemento … Continue reading →

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« Não queremos viver em um remanescente de floresta ou nos tornar remanescentes de seres humanos »

« Em seu país, os brancos já derrubaram quase todas as árvores. Eles mantêm apenas alguns pedaços de floresta, que eles cercaram com cercas… eles agora pretendem fazer o mesmo em nossas terras.Não quero que meu povo viva em um remanescente … Continue reading →

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