Planetarische Bauern

Life in the soil is hugely diverse – and essential to life above it. At the centre of both realms are plants. Like pumps, they drive the exchange of matter between ecosystems. They connect the teeming mass of small and microscopic organisms below with the larger, more familiar life above. What might they tell us – if only we could understand them? Geneva-based artist Mabe Bethônico (born 1966 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil) gives symbolic form to roots in her sewn fabric sculptures, which resemble dolls and appear to have emerged above ground to engage with the world. The multilayered patterns on her large-format prints reflect fundamental subterranean processes of exchange, and are based on linocuts that the artist made from plant samples she cultivated herself. Videos made in collaboration with students from Geneva University of Art and Design and the Berlin-based puppet theatre Das Helmi playfully stage the lives and motivations of the soil’s protagonists.