Adrián Balseca

Like a scene from Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, a landscape of burning palm trees is glimpsed behind a cloud of black smoke. Amidst the flames, ash and scorched stubble stands a helpless motorbike precariously constructed from loose parts. A gigantic bundle of banana bunches is impossibly balanced on the motorbike’s trailer, improvised from a flimsy wooden pallet. The voluminous and extremely heavy load makes it impossible for the motorbike (which has no driver) to move forward. This work is a tribute to the popular struggles in Ecuador to defend life (that of workers and natural resources): in the face of the destructive greed of extractivist multinationals since the beginning of the 20th century (when cocoa corporations were established in the area), until today (today, banana companies exploit the territory to such an extent that 70% of world banana exports originate in Ecuador), farmers have defended their land.