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New Progress/Novo Progresso 2018
Coffee. You might even be having one now while reading this and looking at the artwork. Do you ever consider where your coffee comes from? Many people, ourselves included, have lost sight of where crops such as coffee, soy and palm oil originate and how this affects the people and places that produce them. Large-scale deforestation is a particularly stark example of the destruction we are causing in the natural environment to fulfil our hunger for resources. The installation aims to raise awareness of these issues and encourage people to make more informed choices, like buying Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance certified products. New Progress is a direct translation of the name of Novo Progresso, one of many communities which formed in the Amazon as rainforest was cleared for mining and agriculture.
About the Artists:
Helen Pearce is interested in the traces of human activity etched onto the Earth’s surface, and what these patterns of development reveal about life today. Her engineering and environmental background has led her to explore the relationship between people, place and nature, at a time when humans are the dominant force shaping the world. Helen works in mixed media, photography, print, sculpture and installation.
Dan Sansome has experimented with different forms of artistic expression, ranging from set design and building for companies such as Trestle and Grid Iron, collaborating with visual artist, Marie Ange Bordas on video installations, through to individual photographic projects, such as Ausência Presente - abandonedshoes.blogspot.co.uk. He aims to prompt viewers to notice things in their environment which they had previously overlooked.