Author Archives: Barbara Crane Navarro - Rainforest Art Project

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.

Estudo: Desmatamento zero é melhor chance do Brasil avançar em performance climática!

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

Relatório de Transparência Climática mostra matriz energética mais suja e dinheiro público financiando combustíveis fósseis A rápida redução do desmatamento para zero é uma das oportunidades mais importantes para o Brasil melhorar sua ação climática, de acordo com a mais … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Gold merchant Cartier’s use of Amazon tribe prompts Indigenous advocates to allege hypocrisy. Cartier uses images of Indigenous people devastated by illegal gold mining! – What is Cartier/Cartier Foundation, exactly?

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

This frame, which was removed from Cartier’s website, features an image of four Yanomami children playing in a lush green field while at the top of the page are links to purchase high-end jewelry. The French luxury jewelry brand said … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Ecocide and Enbridge — Challenge

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

Mustafa Harabou writes on the Enbridge corporation’s environmental destruction alongside the failures of Western governments in combatting pollution. Ecocide and Enbridge — Challenge