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.

« O amor aos mercadorias » a floresta eviscerada pelos garimpeiros que priva as vidas dos povos indígenas de seu núcleo essencial !

Originally posted on Barbara Crane Navarro:
« “São os brancos que ganham e acumulam mercadorias! O pensamento deles está tão apegado a ele que, se o danificarem enquanto ainda está brilhando, eles ficam tão furiosos que choram! Eles estão realmente…

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« l’Amour des Marchandises » la forêt éviscérée par les Mineurs d’Or qui prive la vie des peuples autochtones de leur noyau essentiel !

Originally posted on Barbara Crane Navarro:
« Ce sont les blancs qui sont gourmands et accumulent leur marchandise! Leur pensée y est tellement attachée que s’ils l’endommagent alors qu’il est encore brillant, ils deviennent tellement enragés qu’ils pleurent! Ils en…

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« Merchandise Love » The Rainforest Eviscerated by Gold Miners – Depriving Indigenous people’s lives of their essential core!

Originally posted on Barbara Crane Navarro:
«?It is the white people who are greedy and accumulate their merchandise! Their thought is so attached to it that if they damage it while it is still shiny, they get so enraged that…

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« I nostri spiriti xapiri sono molto preoccupati di vedere la terra diventare fantasma »

Originally posted on Barbara Crane Navarro:
«La nostra foresta è ancora bella … radicata al centro del cielo antico.Al di là della foresta, il territorio del popolo bianco che ci circonda è costituito solo da terre ferite da cui provengono…

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« Nuestros espíritus xapiri están muy preocupados de que la tierra se convierta en fantasma »

Originally posted on Barbara Crane Navarro:
«Nuestro bosque todavía es hermoso… arraigado en el centro del cielo antiguo.Más allá de la selva, el territorio de los blancos que nos rodea está formado únicamente por tierras heridas de donde provienen los…

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« Nossos espíritos xapiri estão muito preocupados em ver a terra virar fantasma »

Originally posted on Barbara Crane Navarro:
«Nossa floresta ainda é linda … enraizada no centro do céu antigo.Além da floresta, o território dos brancos que nos cerca é constituído apenas de terras feridas de onde vêm os fumos epidêmicos ……

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« Nos esprits xapiri sont très inquiets de voir la terre devenir fantôme »

Originally posted on Barbara Crane Navarro:
« Notre forêt est encore belle… enracinée au centre du ciel antique.Au-delà de la forêt, le territoire des Blancs qui nous entoure n’est constitué que de terres blessées d’où proviennent les fumées épidémiques… Ses…

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« Our xapiri spirits are very worried to see the land become ghost »

Originally posted on Barbara Crane Navarro:
«Our forest is still beautiful … rooted in the center of the ancient sky.Beyond the forest, the white people’s territory that surrounds us consists only of wounded lands from which the epidemic fumes come…

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Siamo tutti parte della natura e dobbiamo proteggere e amare tutta la natura!

Originally posted on Barbara Crane Navarro:
«Anche se tu ed io siamo su barche diverse, tu sulla tua barca e noi sulla nostra canoa, condividiamo lo stesso fiume di vita. Quello che succede a me succede a te. E a…

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¡Todos somos parte de la naturaleza y debemos proteger y apreciar toda la naturaleza!

Originally posted on Barbara Crane Navarro:
«Aunque tú y yo estemos en botes diferentes, tú en tu bote y nosotros en nuestra canoa, compartimos el mismo río de vida. Lo que me pasa a mi te pasa a ti. Y…

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