Faith Wilding

A Paraguay Herbarium: Unknown Specimen

Maker

Faith Wilding (Paraguayan-American, b. 1943 in Paraguay)

Title

A Paraguay Herbarium: Unknown Specimen
from the series Paraguay: Republica de la Soya (Paraguay: Republic of Soybeans)

Year

2016

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Sheet: 45.3 x 60.6 cm (17 13/16 x 23 7/8 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum purchase: gift of Paula and Leonard Granoff

Object Number

2019.44.2

Type

Exhibition History

On Paper
Gifts from Paula and Leonard Granoff
Oct 29, 2022 – Apr 16, 2023

Label copy

In this drawing, a reproduction of an extinct plant specimen is surrounded by lush depictions of healthy vegetation. Faith Wilding created this series after returning to Paraguay for the first time since 1961 to study botanical collections. The series responds to the dominance of soybean culti­vation in Paraguay, and to its devastating impact on the landscape.

Wilding has made observational drawings from nature since she was a child in Paraguay, but since that time, she explains, her “eyes were opened to realities about what post-colonial, capitalist globalization looks and feels like, especially the massive deforestation.”

–Jan Howard, Houghton P. Metcalf Jr. Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs

Image use

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Tombstone

Faith Wilding (Paraguayan-American, b. 1943 in Paraguay)
A Paraguay Herbarium: Unknown Specimen; from the series Paraguay: Republica de la Soya (Paraguay: Republic of Soybeans), 2016
Watercolor, ink, collage, graphite and tape on paper
Sheet: 45.3 x 60.6 cm (17 13/16 x 23 7/8 inches)
Museum purchase: gift of Paula and Leonard Granoff 2019.44.2

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