More Than 10,000 Indigenous Earthworks Hidden in the Amazon Reveal Human Connections to the Forest Over Millennia

Photos by Diego Lourenço Gurgel, courtesy of Vinicius Peripato, shared with permission

For at least 12,000 years, Indigenous societies have called the Amazon basin home, but for archaeologists, finding evidence of these ancient communities is often inhibited by the region’s dense forest. Thanks to remote-sensing LiDAR, or light detection and ranging technology, researchers Vinicius Peripato and Luiz Aragão of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research led surveys that identified 24 previously undocumented earthworks. Recently publishing their findings in Science, they share:

These ancient Indigenous societies had profound knowledge of earthmoving, riverine dynamics, soil enrichment, and plant and animal ecology, which allowed them to create domesticated landscapes that were more productive for humans. With earthmoving techniques, Indigenous peoples created a wide variety of earthworks (i.e., ring ditches, geoglyphs, ponds, and wells), mostly between 1,500 and 500 years before present, with social, ceremonial, and defensive functions.

Stunning aerial photographs taken in the raking light of the late afternoon reveal monumental geometric shapes in the land, often seen in clusters or concentric arrangements. Using distribution models and comparing the abundance of large-scale archaeological sites across the area, the scientists suggest that between 10,000 and 24,000 sites remain undiscovered across Amazonia’s 2.59 million square miles.

Peripato, Aragão, and their team also uncovered evidence of domesticated tree species, proposing that some of the the societies actively practiced forestry. “These archaeological legacies can play a role in present-day debates around Indigenous territorial rights,” the researchers say. “They serve as tangible proof of an ancestor’s occupation, way of life, and their relationship with the forest.”

Explore more of the team’s research in-depth on Science.

 

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Anish Kapoor’s ‘Untrue/Unreal’ Dissolves Dichotomies Through Sculptural Interventions at Palazzo Strozzi

“Svayambhu” (2007), wax and oil-based paint. All images © Anish Kapoor, courtesy of Palazzo Strozzi, shared with permission

Untrue Unreal exemplifies the questions British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor (previously) has grappled with throughout his career, particularly those surrounding space and perception. On view now at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, the exhibition encompasses new and previously shown works that offer insight into the mainstays and evolution of the artist’s decades-long practice, along with his profound interest in materiality.

Opening the show is “Void Pavilion IV,” a sleek, white cubic structure nestled inside the Renaissance courtyard. Viewers are invited to walk through the stark, geometric form, which functions like a void, plunging them into a quiet, meditative space before venturing into the galleries. Inside are several of Kapoor’s earlier works, including the well-known “Svayambhu.” Sliding between two spaces and leaving gloopy clumps in its wake, the massive brick of red wax explores how architecture shapes materials and the relationship between matter and emptiness. Other works include the primary colored sculptures of “To Reflect an Intimate Part of the Red” and “Angel,” which probe the tension between the earthly and non, along with “Newborn,” a mirrored sphere evocative of the artist’s iconic “Cloud Gate” in downtown Chicago.

Dualities of all kinds—geometric and biomorphic, transience and permanence, concave and convex—characterize Kapoor’s work and emerge in the exhibition title. Considering how boundaries between two distinct objects or concepts dissolve, Kapoor explains about Untrue Unreal:

At this time of ultra-nationalism taking the world over, political fiction poses as the real and is blind to history. The real/unreal–true/untrue game is a trope of our times… I dare say that we have lost touch with human reality and that of our fellow comrades, a hundred million of whom wander the world as refugees. All this in blind ultra-nationalists’ indoctrination. Untrue–Unreal today. The artist’s role, according to me, is to look to the unknown or half-known. I have nothing to say. My truth is to trust in what I don’t know or half know, in this the Untrue/Unreal is a guide.

Untrue Unreal is on view through February 4, 2024. Find more of Kapoor’s work on Instagram.

 

“Void Pavilion VII” (2023)

“Svayambhu” (2007), wax and oil-based paint

Detail of “Svayambhu” (2007), wax and oil-based paint

“Newborn” (2019), stainless steel, 300 x 300 x 300 centimeters

“Angel” (1990), slate and pigment

“To Reflect an Intimate Part of the Red” (1981), mixed media and pigment

“Endless Column” (1992), mixed media

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An Ambitious Series of Portraits by Uli Westphal Captures the Character of Every Edible Plant Seed

Top row, left to right: Aronia melanocarpia (black chokeberry), Atriplex hortensis (orache), and Avena sativa (oat). Second row: Averrhoa carambola (star fruit), Basella alba (malabar spinach), and Beta vulgaris (beet root). Third row: Betula pendula (birch), Borago officinalis (borage), and Brassica juncea (brown mustard). Bottom row: Brassica oleracea (cabbage), Cajanus cajan (pigeon pea), and Calendula officinalis (marigold). All images © Uli Westphal, shared with permission

From the fuzzy casing of the levant cotton seed to the speckled scarlet runner bean to the star-shaped pod of the aptly named star anise, the minuscule sources of the world’s edible plants take center stage in photographer Uli Westphal’s newest project. Fascinated by food systems (previously) and the myriad ways we have adapted botanicals to our needs, the artist showcases the phenomenal diversity of plants, or in this case, their tiny origins. In the ongoing Seeds series, he creates a collective portrait of all edible plants, capturing incredible textures and colors in micro-photographic detail.

While other projects include amassing large quantities of produce, he started focusing on a collection of crop seeds during the pandemic, many of which he accumulated over the years. Currently, he has about 400 species, with a shortlist of 3,000 considered highly edible. Varying in shape, size, color, and texture, the specimens require a setup that allows Westphal to capture every minute characteristic.

 

Carica papaya (papaya)

Because the seeds are often so tiny they’re impossible to capture with traditional camera lenses, Westphal added high-resolving microscope objectives—the magnifying part of the microscope lens closest to the object—to his camera. The objectives have an extremely shallow depth of field, so he built a machine that moves the camera a few micrometers at a time, allowing him to take hundreds of images of each seed. These individual shots are used to create one composite image in which the entire seed is in focus.”It’s a time consuming but rewarding process that reveals a world that would otherwise remain invisible to the naked eye,” he says.

Westphal considers this body of work, in addition to others like the Cultivar Series, “infinite projects that I intend to pursue and expand for as long as I’m around…I believe we need this knowledge to raise awareness, celebrate, and safeguard this botanic cornucopia.”

If you’re in The Netherlands, you can see some of the images in the exhibition Spacefarming at the Evoluon in Eindhoven, which continues through March 2024. Westphal is currently working on a project site to accompany the series, but in the meantime, you can explore some of his other projects on his website, and follow updates on Instagram.

 

Illicium verum (star anise)

Top row, left to right: Opuntia ficus indica (prickly pear), Origanum vulgare (oregano), and Oryza sativa (rice). Middle row: Panicum miliaceum (millet), Papaver somniferum (bread seed poppy), and Passiflora edulis (maracuja). Bottom row: Passiflora quadrangularis (giant granadilla), Pastinaca sativa (parsnip), and Pennisetum americanum (pearl millet)

Centaurea cyanus (cornflower)

Cucurbita ficifoli (fig leaf gourd)

Gossypium herbaceum (levant cotton)

Elettaria cardamomum (kardamon)

Ribes rubrum (redcurrant)

Phaseolus coccineus (scarlet runner bean)

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Bridges and Walls Defy Gravity in Cornelia Konrads’ Atmospheric Site-Specific Installations

“bridge” (2018), lodgepole pine, weathered barn boards, and steel rope, 20 meters long and 4 meters high, for Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild, Lincoln, Montana. All images © Cornelia Konrads, shared with permission

A bridge in the middle of a Montana forest appears eternally suspended mid-collapse, and a wooden dock curls up out of the water in just a couple of artist Cornelia Konrads’ site-specific interventions (previously). Using found materials like driftwood in the towering “tourbillon” or tapping into the regional vernacular like the ceramic tiles and stone in “refuge,” the artist re-interprets existing spaces by considering the tension between harmony and chaos in nature.

Konrads’ installations feature an interplay between permanence and weightlessness, as structures such as bridges, houses, and walls appear to defy gravity. In “La folie des folies (3 The Match),” for example, existing classical statues of Hippomedes and Atalanta appear to playfully lob marble pots across a lawn at one another. And in her most recent work, “fluchtweg / escape route,” a stone wall curls aside to open a footpath, transforming into an inviting gateway rather than a barrier.

The works often visually remark on a specific location, such as “refuge,” which incorporates “an ancient dry stone wall along an old link road between France and Spain, frequently used by refugees during the past centuries,” while “bridge” suspends local lodgepole pine and weathered barn boards over a forested ravine.

Explore more of Konrads’ land art and installations on her website.

 

Collaboration with Marco Dessardo, “pontoon” (2020), wood, plastic containers, iron, and aluminum, 900 x 120 x 150 centimeters. Site on the bank of the Canal de Bourgogne at the harbour of Migennes, for Tandems—Parcours artistique en plein air, Association Canal Satellite, Migennes, France

“tree house” (2022), bricks, cement, construction wood, wooden tiles, and steel cable, 4 x 4 x 6 meters, in Sologne, France

“refuge” (2019), stones, wood, and roof tiles, approxomately 5 x 2.5 x 1.5 meters, for Murets d’art, Mornans, Val de Drôme, France

“refuge”

“tourbillon” (2018/2021), driftwood, and metal, 600 x 400 x 400 cm, for Fondation Carmignac, Villa Carmignac, Île de Porquerolles, France.

“La folie des folies (3 The Match)” (2019), resin, div. paints and pigments, steel rope, two vases, 0.8 x 0.5 x 0.5 meters each, for the Grand Allée of Domaine de la Garenne-Lemot, Gétigné, France

“La folie des folies (3 The Match)”

“fluchtweg / escape route” (2023), local stones, mortar, wood, and metal, each side approximately 120 x 225 x 40 centimeters and Installation on a terrain of 550 x 100 centimeters. Site: small valley crossing the main hiking trail to Rittisberg, for Land-Art Rittisberg 2023, Ramsau am Dachstein, Austria

“tinkers” (2016), set design for a theatre play of ‘The Only Animal Theatre Society’ at Mt. Elphinstone Provincial Park, Roberts Creek, British Columbia

Detail of “bridge”

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Exquisite Paper Fish and Birds by Lisa Lloyd Twist in Elegant Motion

“Flux.” All images © Lisa Lloyd, shared with permission

An elegant, energetic menagerie continues to emerge from Lisa Lloyd’s Brighton studio. Known for her painstaking precision and deft layering process, the artist (previously) imbues her paper sculptures with an immense amount of life, each creature conveying movement and vigor.

One of Lloyd’s most recent works, “Flux,” centers on a pair of fighting fish with gracefully swishing fins. Made in collaboration with the printer Barnard & Westwood, the bettas sport tiny speckles and stripes on their scales as their bodies curve toward each other. Additional sculptures include the anatomical “Ovule,” which depicts a bird severed to reveal a gold spine and flower in its torso, and her recent Rise series of avian-like forms with long, sweeping tails.

Many of the works shown here will be on view through October 15 at StART Art Fair at Saatchi Gallery in London. Lloyd also generously shares insights into her process on Instagram.

 

Detail of “Flux”

Detail of “Flux”

“Ovule”

“Rise 01”

“Rise 03”

“Rise 02”

The artist works on “Flux”

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Disjointed and Mirrored Figures Break Into Indistinct Selves in Kat Kristof’s Portraits

“She & Her” (2023), oil on canvas, 150 x 150 centimeters. All images courtesy of BEERS London, shared with permission

“Where is the outline of one’s self beyond the physical body?” asks the artist Kat Kristof. “If I stand close to you, am I part of you? If we touch, our beings intersect, where do I start and do you begin? Do we share a single being between us?”

In Her & the Self opening next week at BEERS London, Kristof expounds on what it means to try to define something as mutable, fluid, and fragmented as the self. She paints in neutrals and muted jewel tones, rendering figures that are disjointed, mirrored, entwined, and glitched. In works like “She & Her,” for example, a secondary figure appears to peel itself off the body of the subject, a motif similar to that in “Portrait of Them IV.” Other pieces, like “Portrait of Her IV,” show a single woman looking directly toward the viewer, while another identical form slyly peeks out from her left side with a knowing expression.

A statement about the exhibition poses the theory that each portrait equally depicts the sitter and the artist, further ensnaring several identities and perceptions into each of Kristof’s works. While composed of geometric blocks of subtle color, her stylized figures defy clear delineation, their forms often melding into one another and blurring any boundary between the two. The subjects also retain their anonymity and distance from the viewer, further questioning the limits of what we’re able to glean about each other and ourselves.

Her & the Self runs from October 20 to November 25. Glimpse Kristof’s studio and process on Instagram.

 

“Portrait of Her I” (2023), oil on canvas, 135 x 145 centimeters

“Portrait of Her IV” (2023), oil on canvas, 100 x 100 centimeters

“Portrait of Them II” (2023), oil on canvas, 150 x 150 centimeters

“Portrait of Them IV” (2023), oil on canvas, 145 x 110 centimeters

“Her & Her” (2023), oil on canvas, 185 x 125 centimeters

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Disjointed and Mirrored Figures Break Into Indistinct Selves in Kat Kristof’s Portraits appeared first on Colossal.

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