Artist all over the world in this contemporary era time to time keep expressing social, political, cultural and environmental changes and concerns. Globalization has brought many changes and now the world has shrunk. The contemporary artist uses abstract things and images to portray their own thoughts and convey their message to the viewers. One such artist is Glenda Leyva Salazar, whose work is inspired by nature, and how nature operates itself. She uses objects from nature to depict what she directly experienced throughout her frequent trips to Cuba. It was indeed a shock for her to see youngsters from small villages living with very few resources, their life was dependent on what nature as a caregiver had to offer them. She could feel how these youngsters established a greater connection with nature and respected whatever they had. The essay focuses on a photograph by Salazar and how it reflect the current political issue through visual metaphor.
Changing time, advancing technology and merging of cultural boundaries has drifted human beings away from natural surroundings. The picture is a satire indicating how man has occupied space and harmed the environment. Art is not what you see in galleries; art can be anything believed Salazar. One has to realize that nothing is permanent, be it the economical condition, social condition or environmental condition, everything is changing, and this constant change is well depicted in the “Production” by Salazar. There could be different explanations as to what the picture means, but originally the idea was to depict what locals believed after a cyclone when they started sowing seeds of new crops; they said that all soil is fertile and profitable, and anybody can sow the seed. Salazar showed her viewpoint by making 700 balls of mud, planting leaves of iceberg lettuce in each mud ball with two or three drops of water. The leaves could survive for only three days, so how could be all land profitable? Had it been the case pants could have grown in the desert too.
If we look at the bigger message the picture conveys, the small earth balls signify that water is an important element for survival, and it is not only land that requires it. The bathroom in the background with bath tub and toilet seat symbolize the water wastage and urge the viewers to think about what they are doing to the environment and natural resources. The picture also gives an idea about considering small places to be converted into organic gardens and utilizing the space to get in touch with the lost roots. What a pleasant change it would be in the concrete jungles when small little saplings come out of the small windows and a small organic garden will inspire others to be aware and conscious about the environment and what it needs to be done to repair the damage done.
Racheal Price author and scholar of contemporary Cuban art in her book has described the environment and its intersection with art (Locating Cuba 2016). She also has like Salazar through her writing tried to convey the transitions that she has witnessed regarding the physical environment of the island. She elaborates that how the demand for fossil fuel over a period has affected the surrounding waters of Cuba owing to deep water oil mining. She like Salazar examines all this under the creative lens by using the creations of different artists representing different genres of art. Such initiatives were less known in the past times where artists were majorly painting by influences of certain art period or movement. It is because these contemporary expressions through digital media that environmental issues have emerged on the foreground and is attracting the attention of the general public. Artist like Salazar and Price represent everyday subject matters which can be related to the world. Now the art has become globalized, too, representing a bigger picture and leaving its audience to ponder about things like saving the Earth and its natural resources without which we cannot survive.
Works Cited
"Locating Cuba." guernicamag. 2015. Web. 12 May. 2016.
