Welcome to the Everglades

2021
Artist: Harold García V
Curator: Grethell Rasúa
Thomas Nickles Project / Manhattan, NY

The Everglades is one of the most important natural wonders of the world. It is the largest subtropical wetland of its kind in the United States.

Welcome to the Everglades is an investigative project by artist Harold García V curated by artist and curator Grethell Rasúa. The project was first presented at Thomas Nickles Project, New York.

The exhibit is a guided tour, a historical review of the most critical factors that have affected the health of the Everglades from the late 19th century to the present and the underlying cause, man’s choice to control and dominate nature for personal gain, despite the desperate cries of nature and science. For this project, the artist functions as a visual journalist who represents different factors in each piece. García V created the works from historical and factual data. He combines his vision in an aesthetic fusion of the late 19th century, related to the fashion industry. The watercolor technique represents the Victorian era but combines it with an updated look at the issues – images that have gone viral on the internet represented by photographs and objects.

Each work is autonomous, and the pieces are connected through the curatorial narrative and supported by the installation, which plays a fundamental role in the exhibition. The project acts as an archive, brings visual information and accumulated data about the Everglades that are otherwise scattered in our reality. Welcome to the Everglades possesses an anthropological character that can be used to study political, economic, and sociological issues related to ecology and art.

This project prompts us to reflect on our perspective towards the Everglades and the environment in general. We must become aware of our relationship with what we are a part of, nature.

Text by Grethell Rasúa

Download Gazette