Ivana de Vivanco

In Exvotos vegetales, Ivana de Vivanco presents a portrait of two anonymous characters holding a chain with their right hand a chain and pointing towards the sky and the earth with the other hand. From the lower part of the painting, metal chains hang with four elements: a mango, a hercampuri flower, a banana, and a piece of cat’s claw. These elements act as ex-votos or offerings for the survival of species that, as the artist explains, “are in danger of extinction or have been seriously compromised by human actions (monocultures, climate change, excessive exploitation, etc.)”. Exvotos vegetales is part of a larger series of paintings entitled El síndrome de Midas (The Midas Syndrome) in which, through the mythological figure of King Midas, the artist reflects on the consequences of the contemporary obsession with power and money that leads to risking the most basic elements—such as food and water.