Banana Republic

This temporary installation was chosen to participate in the exhibit, Land, 2018 at Own the Walls gallery. 

The hands embroidered onto the bananas are a stark reminder of the human intensive labor in producing, harvesting and transporting food. The banana was chosen in connection to the fraught history of the United Fruit Company  and their occupation, colonization and monopolization of various countries in Central and South America. Their neoliberal policies crippled national economies and capitalized on the labor of those oppressed. This piece seeks to recenter the attention to the land and labor that allowed the fruit to blossom and grow. Although the banana has traveled thousands of miles to come to us in neat packages at the supermarket, their connection to the people, land and history from where they came from should not be forgotten.