Photography: Ed Reeve
Get ready to discover London-based Brazilian artist and designer David Elia’s installation ‘Desmatamento’ (meaning Deforestation) at the Brazilian Pavilion at the London Design Biennale.
Capturing the vulnerability of Brazil’s rainforest, as well as the raw emotions surrounding both the destruction and the ongoing efforts to save it, you’ll discover a range of emotions communicated by the installation. Surprise is brought out by the contrast between the space and the bustling city, fear is evoked by the pile of wood and cut wood wallpaper (symbolising the felled trees), and wonder and hope are both brought to the table via the sights and sounds of a one and half minute film (produced by Director Tunde Albert) bringing the rainforest to life. You’ll also note the bright blue stripe that runs along the bottom of the walls as well as the stools, this is used to also reflect hope, as it symbolises the blue paint that is used on trees as a mark to protect them so they are not felled.
The designer’s focus for the installation was the Mata Atlantica, a rainforest in South America which runs along the Atlantic Coast (from Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil, to Paraguay). The biodiversity present in this rainforest is one of the densest and most abundant in the world, and is also one of the most threatened.
“Beyond its symbolic resonances, ‘Desmatamento’ is intended to capture the essence of the fragile and ethereal ecosystem. I have worked closely with curator Waldick Jatoba to create a space that is meant to reflect the emotional states that are evoked by this essential global issue, but the ultimate emotion we are expressing is hope.” David Elia
David and Waldick
The installation will run from 4th – 23rd September 2018 at Somerset House, London.
Discover more about the Brazilian Pavilion at the London Design Biennale here. Click here to find out more about David Ella’s work.
