Deforestation is a global problem. Every day ruthless companies invade territories traditionally managed by indigenous populations, for commercial exploitation, and perpetrate violence and intimidation against these people. As a result hundreds of helpless people are brutally murdered each year just because they oppose illegal invasion of their land and deforestation. They are peaceful "Earth Defenders". Our so called "developed world" is excessively insensitive to this situation. Yet we are doubly guilty, for turning our heads away from the unacceptable sight of so many victims, and for not realising the impact that these facts will have on everyone, due to the consequences of the climatic and environmental crisis. One of the countries with the highest number of victims is Brazil, where deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest has reached a record high and is threatening to accelerate past a point of no return.
I imagined this work as a surface covered with Brazilian banknotes that are inked with QR codes telling the names and stories of the 32 Earth Defenders who were killed in Brazil in 2019.
Depending on your mobile phone you may need a dedicated app in order to successfully scan these QRs: Scandit, QR Code, QRbot, QR Reader are just some examples.
