For this work I chose the Frailejones as a starting point to develop a research and an aesthetic examination. The cultural-historical dimension, which can be unfolded in the example of this plant, has fascinated me. Frailejones are endemic plants that only thrive in narrowly defined areas. They are widespread in northern South America, in the high plateaus of the Andes in Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia, where I come from. The way these plants develop worked for me as a metaphor to an archive as they don’t lose their leaves while growing but instead grow on top of them, allowing them to collect generations of leaves while reaching a notorious height for a plant that seems more like bush than a tree.

Frailejones have ideally adapted to the climatic conditions of the high Andes. They succeed in absorbing water from the surrounding landscape, a very humid and foggy environment, to later return it to the earth. This water flows down the mountain and gets collected in water reservoirs that are fundamental for the region and the population. These plants are a rebellious counter-image to a world that, during globalization, makes everything available everywhere, uprooting crops to later plant them in different regions of the world.

As an installation I collected various atmospheric sounds recorded on site from these landscapes. The recordings were provided by the Humboldt Institute in Colombia. The videos comprise a wide shot of the landscape and two shots surrounding the plant, spiraling with the camera from the bottom to the top. Accompanying these videos there are three spoken texts. Throughout the stories there is a perceivable poetic approach and the connection of facts that bring together fantasy and historical events allowing for a new form of narrative.