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.

COLONIALISME du 21e siècle – mis en œuvre par les corporations et les ONG? De qui est en jeu la survie ici, Survival? La survie des forêts tropicales et des peuples autochtones ou de Cartier et d’autres dans l’industrie de la joaillerie en or et diamants? …

“La folie de l’homme a augmenté la valeur de l’or et de l’argent à cause de leur rareté; tandis que la nature, comme un parent aimable, nous a donné librement les meilleures choses, comme l’air, la terre et l’eau, mais … Continue reading →

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National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — LANDBACK Friends

The first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada will be September 30. A schedule of events can be found here. With the attention on the deaths of children in the native residential schools in the land called the … Continue reading →

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Every Child Matters — Curriculum Connections

Classroom Resources and Activities: Every day is Orange Shirt Day: 3 Crows Productions takes you on a visual journey of what Orange Shirt Day means to them. Elders and Residential School Survivors Cyril Pierre and Joseph Ginger return to the … Continue reading →

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21st Century COLONIALISM – implemented by Corporations and NGOs? Whose Survival is at stake here, Survival? The survival of the rainforests and Indigenous peoples or of Cartier and others in the gold and diamond jewelry industry? – If you plan to donate to an NGO, please read this first! – update 2023

“Man’s folly hath enhanced the value of gold and silver because of their scarcity; whereas nature, like a kind parent, hath freely given us the best things, such as air, earth, and water, but hath hidden from us those which … Continue reading →

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Hallaron las huellas de los primeros pobladores americanos — Noticias La Insuperable

El descubrimiento echa por tierra con todas las teorías del poblamiento del continente. Por Alcides Blanco para Noticias La Insuperable El tema de la llegada de los primeros humanos al continente americano siempre ha generado controversia, no solo por las … Continue reading →

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EXCELLENT Essay: Empire after Empire: The Endless Desert of Settler Indigenisation in Nomadland — Patrick Turner — New Critique – And the Settler Indigenisation in most of the films from Hollywood we’ve seen all of our lives…

“Ultimately, Nomadland’s affective impact, and the sense of authenticity felt in McDormand’s performance should be understood within a colonialist standard of authenticity rooted in the indigenisation of whiteness – and the erasure of Indigenous sovereignty.” [Essay] Empire after Empire: The Endless … Continue reading →

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Il genocidio dei popoli indigeni in Nord America PRIMA sta accadendo in Sud America ADESSO!

« Vogliono che abbandoniamo un’altra parte della nostra terra tribale. Questa non è la prima volta né l’ultima volta. Rivendicano questa nostra madre, la Terra, per uso personale, e chiudono lontano da lei i loro vicini, e la degradano con i … Continue reading →

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A importância do Fórum Social Pan-Amazônico para os Povos da Floresta — Internacional da Amazônia

Keity Oliveira (acadêmica do 2º semestre de RI da UNAMA) Em 25 de março de 2021, o Comitê Internacional do Fórum Social Pan-Amazônico nomeou a cidade Belém do Pará como palco de sua décima edição em 2022 (Foro Social Panamazónico, … Continue reading →

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El agronegocio brasileño continúa aterrorizando y expoliando territorio indígena — — mimismo

(Rebelión) En la represión y expolio de territorio guaraní Kaiowá en Mato Grosso del Sur, un nuevo incidente tuvo lugar el 20 de agosto cuando la casa de oración del líder Cassiano Romero fue incendiada. Este líder de 92 años … Continue reading →

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¡El genocidio de los pueblos indígenas en América del Norte ANTES está sucediendo en América del Sur AHORA!

« Quieren que abandonemos otra parte de nuestra tierra tribal. Esta no es la primera ni la última vez. Ellos reclaman a esta madre nuestra, la Tierra, para su propio uso, y encerran a sus vecinos lejos de ella, y la … Continue reading →

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