Adriana Varejao: Don’t Forget, We Come From the Tropics

In Don’t Forget, We Come From the Tropics Adriana Varejão presents new paintings and sculptures that reflect on the Amazonian rainforest as a vital nexus of ecology, art, and culture. The exhibition debuts the latest works in Varejão’s Plate series (2011–), which, shown alongside historic ceramic plates from the museum’s collection, pose questions about aesthetic hierarchies. In front of the museum, Varejão activates Anna Hyatt Huntington’s 1927 equestrian statue of El Cid with a monumental, vibrant fiberglass sucuri (Amazonian anaconda) that coils around the bronze warrior, in a challenge to imperialism, masculinity, and man’s dominion over nature.