“Méndez’s group of work, Köömbi’a Lessons, consists of a video titled Tropical Sexual Reproduction, a black-and-white photograph of two local Amazonians and an ethnobotanist, a sound creation, a booklet, and a plastic imitation of a “Dancing Lady” orchid (Oncidium). This plant, native to South America, was uprooted from the local environments and arbitrarily adopted for the Occidental aesthetic fetishism. To obtain the “exotic plant decoration,” humans replaced the role of pollinators. The video gaily introduces the violent act enabled by the development of reproductive technologies and the negation of the complex dynamics of tropical ecologies. The immortal flower crucified on the wall is forcibly dancing as if to seduce viewers.” Mizuho Yamazaki
Link to Tropical Nightmare – booklet Mizuho Yamazaki and Pablo Méndez
