Subverted

Subverted was a group exhibition with artworks by Edward Burtynsky (Ontario, Canada, 1955), David Maisel (New York, USA, 1961), Nuno Ramos (São Paulo, Brasil, 1960) and Carlo Valsecchi (Brescia, Itay, 1965). The show threw a spotlight on the rapport between man and nature, a relationship whose dynamic has been radically altered over the last few decades, as our culture’s way of understanding and looking at nature has experienced a paradigm shift. Until the end of the 18th century nature was believed to be a manifestation of a mysterious, superhuman force equated with God. From that moment on, it was identified with a quality that exceeds the human dimension, seen as ephemeral and transitory.

In our culture today the attributes of both nature and the human being have been radically subverted. Nature is now perceived as a fragile system abused and exploited by humans. The melting of glaciers, the deforestation of the Amazon rain forest and climate change suffice to perceive the tremendous fragility looming over the environment. Even natural disasters like tsunamis or great floods are seen as the effects of man´s action in a highly vulnerable ecosystem.

Subverted took a look at the intersection of these two realities from a shared language. Where the hand of God was once seen in traditional representations of nature, we now see the print of the human being.