“rain catcher”

2024

5.5” X 8.5”

Photo by Guido Taroni

Abel Rodríguez (Mogaje Guihu) is an elder from the Nonuya ethnic group, native to the Cahuinarí river in the Colombian Amazon. Rodríguez’s work is grounded in his ancestral knowledge of the indigenous plants of the region, which was passed to him by his uncle.

Colombian artist Abel Rodríguez an expert in the plants and ecological systems of the Amazon Basin. Traditionally this knowledge is passed down through generations. Researchers were impressed with his skills explaining the ecological aspects of plants and at classifying them. Rodríguez began drawing and painting of Amazonian plants and vegetation in the 1990s. He published the book ‘The cultivated plants of the center people from the Colombian Amazon’ and illustrated a non-existing tree, The tree of life, which narrates the origin of food for the indigenous people of the Mid River Caquetá. His meticulous work caught the attention of the art world and he has exhibited around the world.

https://torontobiennial.org/…/abel-rodriguez-at-small…/