How Would the Developed World Decorate its Fondue without Banana Republics?
For this project, Graquandra looked through the rubbish bins of public spaces in the search for banana peals. The results were overwhelming. The peals were pealed of their meat and later dehydrated in an oven as a form of taxonomy. These peals were used to frame the oil painting of a “patacón”, a fried plantaine. In this frame, the spectator can see the survival of “chiquita banana” stickers, the murderous company.
The again of the peals in comparison to the vigilant stickers foreshadow the incidiousness and lingering effects of ecological colonisation on “Banana Republics”. This is a degrading term conceived by United Fruit Company (Chiquita), and other colonial entities, for impoverished Central and Southern American countries. These companies devalued the “products of trade”, in the case for “How Would The Developed World Decorate its Fondue Without Banana Republics?” it focuses on the banana.
The banana becomes a symbol of a misjudged, cheap resource disregarding its eco-system as a sentient living being, or the populous which inhabit and nurture it. Fruit, cacao, coffee and other edible products lost fiscal worth on the global economic market, while companies such as United Fruit Company infiltrated and colonised Latin American and Carribean soils.
This project besides its aesthetic elements, intends to promote reflection and awe towards an edible good, which has been hyper-globalised and disconnected of its roots, and sinister harvest.