Natural Abstractions Cuba

Humboldt Rain Forest, Holguin Provence, Cuba

April 2016

The “Natural Abstractions Cuba” Project highlighted the vulnerability of the Humboldt National Park in Cuba to unchecked development and climate change and raised the public’s awareness of the endangered plant species in the park.  Humboldt is the largest rain forest in the Caribbean and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the rare local flora is threatened by logging operations encroaching on the park. 

The park is the site of mountains considered sacred by the indigenous Taino.

 Excerpt from Artspace’s Global Spotlight Feature

Artspace.com Commission: June, 2016

The “Natural Abstractions Cuba” Project goal was to highlight the vulnerability of the Humboldt National Park in Cuba to unchecked development and climate change and to raise the public’s awareness of the endangered plant species in the park.  Humboldt is the largest rain forest in the Caribbean and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the rare local flora is threatened by logging operations encroaching on the park.

The artistic process I used in the project involves photographing rare plant specimens and then using a mixed media technique I developed to create images that appear to be fossilized versions of plants that are not yet extinct.  This creates an abstract and imaginary fossilized record of something that’s currently alive, but that very quickly could become just a memory.

My creative process involves reproducing multiple iterations of the images, so that eventually the images degrade until I’m left with only a faint impression of what had previously existed.  This is a metaphor for the fragility of nature and a warning for what can happen to an entire species when natural environments are disrupted.

About Humboldt National Park

Humboldt National Park was, named after the German scientist Alexander von Humboldt, the iconic naturalist and explorer who visited the island in 1800 and 1801.  Von Humboldt was the first scientist to draw the connection between unchecked development and climate change and species depletion.  He is considered by many to be the grandfather of the worldwide environmental movement.

The largest rain forest in the Caribbean and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Humboldt is also an important bird and animal sanctuary, home to many rare tropical birds including the Zunzuncito, the world’s smallest bird. New plant and animal species are regularly identified in the park by research teams from Germany, Canada, and the U.S, with many species still undiscovered. 

Ninety percent of the plant species in the park are endemic (found only in this rain forest).   This highly unusual scenario results from a combination of the ecosystem’s isolation on an island peninsula surrounded by semi-arid land and the exceptionally acidic underlying rocks, which gives rise to highly adaptive plants that can’t live in other soil conditions.