2023
[Paper mache, concrete, foam, latex, wood, metal]
160 x 80 x 90 cm
Gallery Elipssis 2023
Growing over in the pool 2025
Integrated was a research project that culminated in an installation and two sculptures. The project began as a response to a newspaper article about the eviction of a man from his improvised communal garden. The article struck me because of a striking contrast: discussions of guilt and responsibility were overshadowed by our discomfort with complex issues such as homelessness and migration.
A local man had cultivated figs, peppers, and other plants under a metro bridge, a space also used by homeless people. The municipality and the metro authority deemed the area contaminated and concluded that the garden made the location “too attractive,” drawing more people to the site. Therefore, the man was asked to leave.
The article presented the story from the perspective of an immigrant, whose integration seemed to be justified by his act of transforming a neglected urban space into something useful and beautiful. He was portrayed as a selfless figure who harmed no one but contributed to the community. Yet neither his origin nor his intentions were truly relevant; the focus was ultimately on assigning blame to the so-called “pollution” caused by homelessness and treating it as the“ugliness” that needed to be addressed. Allowing his presence seemed to expose a double standard.
The wording of this situation caused frustration and led to my reaction. I worked with the idea of ownership in forgotten terrain — if left alone, it would remain fallow and overgrown with weeds. The man had brought it to life, creating fertile ground, a safer environment, and a source of food. Contribution to not only the homeless people but also to our environment. If pollution alone was really the problem, why not simply provide garbage bins?
The installation: perspective derived from still life, instead of memento mori I ask to remember, to not forget, our responsibility.