Pedro David
Hardwood
July 5–29, 2018
For the last thirteen years, Pedro David has been photographing commercial eucalyptus groves that are quickly replacing the natural forests throughout much of Brazil. Since the early 1900s, eucalyptus plantations have greatly diminished the biodiversity of the country’s forests, depleting the soil and consuming water and other vital resources at such a rapid pace that this phenomenon has become a global concern. In his Hardwood series, David photographs the rows of eucalyptus as they overtake the native Sucupira, Pequizeiro, Araticum, and Palo Tierra species, drawing viewers into these unnatural yet alluring landscapes.
Pedro David (b. 1977, Brazil) completed his BA in journalism at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais State in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and holds a graduate degree in contemporary fine arts from the Escola Guignard, Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais in Brazil. He has published numerous books, including Underwater Landscape (2008); The Garden (2012); Route Root (2013); and Catharsis Phase(2014). His work is housed in the collections of the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris; the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil; the Museu Nacional da República, Brasília; and the Minas Gerais State Museum, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Blue Sky exhibited David’s series 360 Square Meters in 2015 and the Hardwood series was recently exhibited at the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, DC.