The banana is much more than a fruit. In contemporary Latin American art, it can be a symbol of exoticism associated with the tropics, or a representative of the extensive monocultures that took over Central America and the Caribbean, or a reminder of a violent history involving companies such as the United Fruit Company . The banana can even be, due to its phallic shape, an emblem of masculine identity. Bananas are enjoyed fresh in a fruit salad or fried at a family dinner, but among artists on the continent, they have a more bitter taste.
“In the post-war period, there was an interest in contemporary art to begin to look critically at what was happening in Latin America and its relationship with the North, and there you find a different approach to what the banana means,” explains Juanita Solano, a Colombian art historian who recently published, together with her Spanish colleague Blanca Serrano, a digital exhibition with 100 works of contemporary art made by artists from the continent: La fiebre del banano (Banana Fever) . A fascinating curation to explore the complex history of this fruit in the region through art.
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The work of Dominican Yunior Chiqui Mendoza in the third room of the exhibition on Identities is an example. Titled Bananhattan (2010), it is a map of Manhattan in the shape of a banana where the island stops being the Big Apple to become the Big Banana Tree. The work indicates with a red circle where the Dominican community of Washington Heights, the Dominican Yorks neighborhood, is located. Another Latin American migrant artist in the United States, the Uruguayan Luis Camnitzer, instead gave a twist to that identity with which the United States called all dictatorships south of its border: the banana republics. In 2018, after Donald Trump's victory in 2016, Camizer made Banana Flag, another reinterpretation of the banana identity but in gringo land.
Banana Fever is a virtual exhibition developed over the last three years —with support from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, whose website contains the exhibition— and which would have cost thousands of dollars in physical form. Instead, in this digital format it can be viewed free of charge by any user in the world and in any country where bananas are consumed.
Translated from Spanish
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El banano es mucho más que una fruta. En el arte contemporáneo de América Latina puede ser símbolo de un exotismo que se asocia al trópico, o representante de los extensos monocultivos que se tomaron en Centro América y el Caribe, o recuerdo de una historia violenta que involucra a empresas como la United Fruit Company. El banano puede ser incluso, por su forma fálica, emblema de la identidad masculina. El banano se disfruta fresco en una ensalada de frutas o frito en una cena familiar, pero entre artistas del continente tiene un sabor más amargo.
“En el periodo de posguerra hay un interés en el arte contemporáneo por empezar a mirar críticamente lo que estaba pasando en América Latina y su relación con el norte, y ahí encuentras una aproximación diferente a lo que significa el banano”, explica Juanita Solano, historiadora del arte colombiana que publicó recientemente, junto a su colega española Blanca Serrano, una exposición digital con 100 obras de arte contemporáneo hechas por artistas del continente: La fiebre del banano. Una fascinante curaduría para explorar la compleja historia de esta fruta en la región a través del arte.
