All Directions at Once is a web-based artwork that charts histories of reproductive control. The work follows the path of ayoowiri, or the peacock flower—a plant that grows in the tropical areas of Latin America. During the European occupation of the land, an infusion of this plant was often used as a contraceptive and abortifacient amongst Indigenous and African communities—a strategy of reproductive resistance within the context of colonial domination. What kinds of modernities come into being through these acts of refusal? Through the stories of ayoowiri and other contraceptive and abortifacient plants, this animated graphic essay explores conceptions of radical communal care and unravels the poetic dimensions of excess as a fragmented, fast-paced pluri-verse, meshing together timelines; a disjointed collective, moving in all directions at once.
All Directions At Once was acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago in 2022 as the first internet-based work in their permanent collection.
Photo: The Art Institute of Chicago
Photo: The Art Institute of Chicago
Bio
-
Photo: MeetFactoryLuiza Prado
BR
Luiza Prado De O. Martins is an artist, activist and researcher. Her work moves between installation and food, using performance and ritual as a way of invitation and activation for audiences. Her practice explores relations and knowledge between food, reproductive justice, infrastructures and technology, and questions what structures and process are needed for collective concerns of care. She holds a PhD from the University of the Arts Berlin, and an MA from the University of the Arts Bremen.
Credits
Supported by Schloss Solitude Web Residencies.
Presented in the context of the European Digital Deal project. European Digital Deal is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union and by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport.
