Tabita RezaireFarmers' Wisdom , 2023
In 2020, artist and spiritual seeker Tabita Rezaire became a farmer and started Amakaba – a centre for Amazonian wisdom in French Guiana. ‘Farmers’ Wisdom’ (2022) explores how land, societies and people can heal from the legacies of colonialism. The artist draws from Afrodiasporic and Indigenous systems of knowledge and practices of care, growth and transformation. Here, an adobe hut invites visitors to rest within the womb of the earth. The hut was built in collaboration with Natural Building Lab, part of Technische Universität Berlin’s Architecture Institute, and students of the university.
Inside, Rezaire interviews farmers in four videos, seeking their guidance as she starts her own journey in agriculture. ‘Singing Bee Garden’ (2021) documents the relationship of mutual sustenance between beekeepers and their bees. ‘Cacao d’Amazonie’ (2021) follows farmers’ mutual kinship with the forest, exploring how this translates in their labour. These videos inquire how local, scientific and spiritual knowledge is handed down through generations.
