Project
America's Possession and Dispossession
America's Possession and Dispossession was a site-specific garden installation commissioned by LMCC for the exhibition Avenue of the Americas, which took place in 2010 and was curated by Adam Kleinman.
In order to re-brand the Avenue of the Americas, Carlos Motta and David Sanín Paz created a garden featuring banana trees, passion vines, and other tropical plants from around North and South America shaped to spell out the word: AMERICA'S. This intentional use of the possessive form repositions the exhibition and the Avenue's plurality (Avenue of the Americas), into a situation of singular ownership. As a living sculpture, this project requires care such as watering and weeding. In the metaphoric sense, this actual maintenance alludes to our own need to tend to our own 'America(s)'.
It should also be noted that the plants and soil will be cross-pollinated and "polluted" by bees and wind-carrying seeds from points elsewhere, nurturing an ever growing and developing wild body, depending on what species are accepted. The list of original Pan-American plants are: Solanum Quitoense (Peru and Ecuador), Verbena Bonariensis (Argentina), Dichondra Silver Falls (South East United States of America), Passiflora Kewensis (Brazil), Passiflora Vitifolia (Central America), Passiflora Sunburst (Venezuela), Ipomoea Kniolas Black (American Tropics), Senecio Confusus (Mexico), Agastache Apricot Sunrise (North America), Juncus Effusus 'Unicorn' (Eastern United States), Nicotiana Langsdorfii (Brazil).
