Una proposta di sincretismo (questa volta senza genocidio), 2018

Maria Thereza AlvesUna proposta di sincretismo (questa volta senza genocidio) (2018), installation
In collaboration with: Antonio Josè Pantuso (Le Stanze del Gattopardo)

The project, on view at Palazzo Butera, began with a few antique tiles of exotic parrots from Brazil seen in the flea market of Piazza Marina. They were remnants of a common motif in Palermo called ‘Birds of Paradise’, consisting of non-local and local birds on the corners of a panel celebrating an event such as a new castle or house.
The project alludes to the present foodscapes and landscapes of Sicily where the prickly pear and agave from Mexico, tomatoes and potatoes from the Andean region and the Jacaranda and Ceiba speciosa trees from Brazil come to form a new syncretism that has been incorporated by Sicilians at times in contemporary definitions of the region. It also alludes, of course, to the parrots from Brazil that were smart enough to escape from their captivity for crimes never committed.