JOSELY CARVALHO
multimedia artist
History: cannon 31- SIGA nº 015893
This colubrina was ordered by the Portuguese from an arsenal in Genoa, Italy. Its details suggest that there was no concern with its cost. It is more richly decorated than most other cannons and has an exquisitely carved rattlesnake in the shape of a warrior's head.
The São Francisco de Tabatinga Fort in the Amazon sat at a strategic location bordering two other countries, Peru and Colombia, in the lower Solimões. Work on the fort was completed in 1776, most likely by the hands of enslaved indigenous people, as it was located close to many forest communities. This fort was also the site of cannon 28, given the smell Anoxia in this installation.
Today, isolated indigenous peoples are still vulnerable and criminalized by the government. In 2020, Brazil was denounced at the UN for having risked indigenous genocide. Cited among the arguments of the complaint was the fact that the highest rate of deforestation in 2019 — an increase of 113% — took place in the demarcated areas of isolated peoples. That same year, Paulo Paulino Guajajara, an indigenous leader and guardian of the forest, was murdered in an ambush in Araribóia Forest, Maranhão.
smell Absence LAGO06803/00
Absence does not just refer to what is gone but also what is not repeated or reproduced. Intention of restlessness, of stinging. Hot notes such as pink pepper and cloves were used in uncomfortable doses.
The absence here is poignantly manifested and lived rather than being just a passing memory. Vetiver was added in its dirty, burnt fraction, so that the smell of earth and ash was not clean and clear, but harsh as absence.