Porto. 26th April, 2001.For this work, weearing a dust mask, I walked along a main road in the city, placing single red carnations in the exhaust pipes of cars.
This an entirely contextually specific work.
The 25th April was the 27th anniversary of the Portuguese revolution which overthrew the Salazar dictatorship.
This revolution is known as the “Revolution of the Carnations” because a woman gave people red carnations (cravas in Portuguese) which the people then gave to the soldiers and placed in the barrels of their guns.
Given the timing and location of this work the iconography I have appropriated is explicit within the piece.
Equally obvious (especially due to the use of the mask) is the issue of pollution and damaging emissions from cars.
The effects of global warming are currently high in the public consciousness in Portugal. The winter of 2000/01 saw some of the worst flooding on record in the North of the country. This is widely known to be due to global warming.
In the UK approximately 30 000 people die every year as result of the pollution caused by cars. The figure is likely to be comparable in Portugal.
This figure excludes those killed in car crashes etc. The mortality rate in Portugal’s road accidents is 500% higher than in England.
Countless people die every year because of other sections of the auto industry. In factories, mines, in wars over oil fields etc. etc.
During the enire period of the Salazar regime it is estimated that around 1000 people were killed. Without wishing to minimise the the evils of fascism it is clear that as long as the petro-industrial complex remains the revolution remains unfinished…..
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