Versus

by Edgar Bacalao

Cozumel, Mexico – May 2019

Artist

Finding This Mural

Google Map

Story Behind This Mural

Artist Statement

VERSUS. The countless ecosystem services that mangroves bring to the island are often invisible to the civilizing eye that looks through the lens of profit. Under the imperative of giving order to a "natural chaos" we do not assume nature and burn our own house. The irrational side of a blind rationalism. This is how the great historical narratives that shaped Western thought operate: religion, rationalism and instrumental technique have placed humanity as the conqueror and axis of the world. Creating the insurmountable gaps: body / mind, reason / desire-unconsciousness, culture / nature, civilization / barbarism. An anthropomorphic red mangle, which by shaking a pair of machetes cut its own head, can be read as a metaphor of humanity that alienated in its nature is directed to its self-destruction. Better yet, it is also a powerful allegory, an opportunity to recognize ourselves in the natural. So this image serves as an invitation to rebel against the rationalist idea that postulates a foreign nature, irreconcilable and in perpetual versus.

The Focus

Mangrove habitat conservation