Ana
Hupe &
Barbara
Marcel
EXPRESSION
Maniok Reibe Ich Dir, Schwesterchen (Manioc, I Grind You, Sister), 2015-2019
Two-channel video installation: 43:46 and 13:33
The video installation Manioc, I Grind You, Sister juxtaposes two films that, together, weave a web of questions on how to function and survive in a world of environmental and cultural devastation. One film is a documentary in which three women activists who work in local communities in Amazonia speak about the issues underlying the initiatives that they are running. Keepers of knowledge regarding herbalism, education, healthcare, and community organizing, they have an informed view on how industrial agriculture, colonial appropriation of the land, authoritarian neoliberalism, and growing inequalities inhibit the transmission of knowledge. The other film is a visual essay that transports us to a world in which archival images from different periods collide, creating tension between the monoculture agricultural industry and methods of producing manioc flour in Caboclo communities in Amazonia. This work, situated at the juncture of the art practices of Ana Hupe and Barbara Marcel, highlights ancestral and experiential knowledge from a feminist perspective, rooted in the context of Brazil. It takes us to meet women who act as ramparts against appropriation of the territory by economic interests—but for how long?
Ana Hupe is a Brazilian visual artist based in Berlin. She dedicates herself to building contra-memories of colonial archives with narrative installations focused on social invisibilities, historical erasures, resistance movements, and Afro-Amerindian philosophies. Hupe holds a PhD in fine arts from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and is currently a researcher at Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle.
Barbara Marcel is a visual artist and filmmaker from Rio de Janeiro who is interested in the cultural roots of nature, the epistemological crossroads between Brazil and Germany, and the various colonialities that to this day extractively pervade the territory of Latin America. In parallel with her individual research, she works regularly with other artists, researchers, and activists on projects around ecological relations and processes of thought and practice in times of environmental collapse and increasing social inequalities. She has been living in Berlin since 2009 and is currently one of the twelve 2022–23 Berlin Artistic Research Grant Program Fellows.
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Ana Hupe and Barbara Marcel, Maniok Reibe Ich Dir, Schwesterchen (Manioc, I Grind You, Sister), still from video installation, 2015-19
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Ana Hupe and Barbara Marcel, Interview with an herbalist during production of Maniok Reibe Ich Dir, Schwesterchen (Manioc, I Grind You, Sister), 2015-19
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Ana Hupe and Barbara Marcel, Maniok Reibe Ich Dir, Schwesterchen (Manioc, I Grind You, Sister), two-channel video installation, 2015-19