At the end of the 1980s, Maria Thereza Alves was among the founders of the Brazilian Partido Verde (Green Party), and it was also following her lead that the battle for the protection of indigenous minorities found its place alongside those for the protection of the environment. Her artistic activity may therefore be seen as an extension of this political commitment. The investigation into the trauma of European colonisation throughout Central and South America led her to reflect not only on the devastating impact that it had on the society and the culture of the natives, but also on the less visible transformations inflicted onto the natural environment. Her works – installations, publications and workshops – tell forgotten tales of dried-up lakes (The Return of a Lake, 2012), forests cut down (Decolonizing Brazil, 2018) and fruits that have disappeared (This is not an Apricot, 2009) in the wake of the greed of the rich Spanish and Portuguese colonists. [...]
