A. Millot, Pomme de Terres Potagères, revue horticole, 16 January 1918, no. 1.
A. Millot, Pomme de Terres Potagères, revue horticole, 16 January 1918, no. 1.
Originating in extensive research and culminating in material sculptures or installations, Ximena Garrido-Lecca’s work foregrounds indigenous knowledge systems and artisanal traditions along with modern technological infrastructures. Often grounded in the specific histories of Peru, where she was born, her body of work also tracks how extractive industry and related economic paradigms have taken on increasingly global dimensions.
For a new large-scale project at the Renaissance Society, Germinations, Garrido-Lecca continues her research into plants originally domesticated by Andean and Mesoamerican cultures and their subsequent global dissemination. Taking center stage here is solanum tuberosum, a tuber known in many places as the potato. Domesticated more than 8,000 years ago in the Altiplano region, the potato has been a pillar in the lives of Andean communities, where it is grown as a source of sustenance and attributed symbolic and spiritual value. Today, more than 4,000 potato varieties have been adapted to different altitudes and climatic conditions around the world.
In Chicago, Garrido-Lecca unveils an installation inspired by Andean cosmovision, the planting and harvesting of potatoes as ritual events, and a unit of measurement known as the papacancha, which unites space, time, and climate. Throughout its various elements, Germinations draws on the Andean concept of Pacha, a word with diverse interrelated meanings, which evokes, among other things, a cyclical and simultaneous dimension in which past, present, and future occur.
Curated by Karsten Lund.
