Punto de Fuga
2022
Ceramics and wood
120x120cm
The literal translation of Punto de Fuga is “vanishing point”, although its symbolic meaning is lost in translation. Punto de Fuga, meaning “escape point”, holds a two-dimensional semantic connotation: as a break free starting point and as the “eye point”, the artistic element introduced by Alberti and its geometrical focus of attention.
My previous installation, “Seeing Plants”, highlighted how nature and plants have been framed as objects historically in the context and culture of western societies.
Punto de Fuga is a breaking point from this historic framing of nature and plants from an intrinsic and extrinsic point of view. It symbolizes a personal growth towards multicultural perspectives of understanding, treating life and how that shapes the landscapes we inhabit.
The picket fences are a quintessential emblem of hierarchical systems of values and social class in western societies, where plants epitomise a set of human behaviours on aesthetics and power roles. Recent plant studies are challenging obsolete ontological ideas and conducting ground-breaking research into plant agency, reshaping our relationship with nature.
Our relationship with nature and plants is on a shifting terrain where radical change is needed, not only from a sustainable and ecological perspective, but from ethical and philosophical debates regarding futures of cooperation between species and who we would strive to be as human beings.
