MADE IN United Fruit Company
MADE IN United Fruit Company
Jean-François Boclé, Sans titre, série MADE IN United Fruit Company, 2019-, accrylique sur papier Arche 365g, 32 x 24 cm chaque, solo show Sé mésié kriminel la pa ka joué, Galerie Atiss Dakar, Senegal, 2022. ©Jean-François Boclé/Adagp.
French below
In 2019, I started to paint 1000 hands. As many hands as there were farm workers murdered by the Colombian army in 1928 in the Santa Marta Region at the request of the desastrous United Fruit Company (which became in 1989 Chiquita Brands International), an agri-food group that could influence governments, or install or deposit powers in place, at the whim of its own interests and those of the United States.
In 2019, I started to paint 1000 hands. As many hands as there were farm workers murdered by the Colombian army in 1928 in the Santa Marta Region at the request of the desastrous United Fruit Company (which became in 1989 Chiquita Brands International), an agri-food group that could influence governments, or install or deposit powers in place, at the whim of its own interests and those of the United States.
In Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez returns to what is called the banana massacre (Massacre de las bananeras).This massacre was the trigger in Marquez's novel of the rains, which lasted four years, eleven months and two days, which condemned the fictional village of Macondo. A Deluge, as a response to human greed, facing a man who stands at the top of the food chain of the living.
These hands appears disfigued, amputated, buried, submerged, if not totally dissolved. Their gestures, they, say their permanence, their cry in our memories.
En 2019 j'ai entrepris de peindre 1000 mains. Autant de mains qu'il y eu d'ouvriers agricoles assassinés par l'armée colombienne en 1928 dans la région de Santa Marta à la demande de la funeste United Fruit Company (devenue en 1989 Chiquita Brands International), un groupe agro-alimentaire qui pouvait influencer des gouvernements, ou même installer ou déposer les pouvoirs en place, au gré de ses intérêts et de ceux des Etat-Unis.
Dans Cent ans de solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez revient sur ce que l'on nomme en Colombie le massacre des bananeraies (Masacre de las bananeras). Ce fut le déclencheur dans le roman de Marquez des pluies, qui durèrent quatre ans, onze mois et deux jours, qui condamnèrent le village fictif de Mocondo. Un Déluge, comme une réponse face à l'avidité humaine, face à un homme qui s'érige au sommet de la chaîne alimentaire du vivant.
Ces mains se disent défigurées, amputées, enterrées, submergées, sinon totalement dissoutes. Leur gestuelle, elle, dit leur permanence, leur cri dans nos mémoires.
La main qui peint est - aussi - là pour dire toute la violence humaine.
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