Black Man Grove: Resilience, Resin Coated Cardboard, 15’x12’x12′, Cartasia 2012, Crisis and Rebirth, Piazza San Michele. Lucca, Italy
Cartasia 2012 is the sixth international sculpture biennial focused on contemporary uses of paper. Andrew F. Scott was invited to produce a sculpture for the biennial. He constructed a work from his Black Man Grove Series on a monumental scale in historic San Michele Square.
Digital fabrication expands sculptural modalities, creating a platform for communal sculptural activities that transcend time, space, process, and language. The “Black Man Grove” series adopts the mangrove tree as a symbol of power and resilience. Nature has provided the mangrove with numerous adaptations that enable these trees to thrive in challenging ecological environments.
The form of the work incorporates the taproot system and pneumatophores of the mangrove tree, along with abstractions of the clenched fist —a universal symbol of power and resistance. In this combination, it alludes to African Nkonde and Nkisi invocation figures. The resulting objects combine to create a testament to the resilience of nature and the human spirit.