By Adolfo Caballero
“As a young man, I remember reading how the railroad barons of the late 19th century in the United States paid off artists, including Albert Bierstadt and others, as part of a massive and historic media campaign to protect their investment. Artists painted the West as a paradise filled with promise and opportunity. The campaign inspired a migration of people in search of a new life that led to mass genocide and displacement of indigenous groups in the western territories of the United States,” says Davis Birks.
The same desire for profit over the value of life has led us to a critical and existential point for humanity. The idea of loss, and the point of no return, are the underlying concepts of the work currently presented at YAM Gallery. The process and the end result of these works demonstrate a simple analogy with our relationship with the natural environment. We cannot go back in time to undo the damage that has already been done. We can only move forward and put the pieces back together to rebuild them as well as possible. Visit the work of Davis Birks at YAM Gallery, located inside the Allende Institute.
