por amerika21

La Hoja Sagrada
Berlin: Photographs by Nicolás Ure (Argentina) about Bolivia, the coca plant and the natives of this Latin American country.

Bolivia – la hoja sagrada

… is based on a journey in the jungle which the Argentinean photographer Nicloás Ure together with a journalist undertook in order to search for clues over a forgotten culture, the Aymara.

Bolivia – La hoja sagrada

… is a story about colliding cultures – on one side the traditional use of the coca plant for tee, flour or fiber and on the other side the misuse by the western world, who are using the plant for the fabrication of drugs.

The leaf of the coca shrub represents a very complex issue. For the Andean cultures it is a holy plant, which Is in ceremonial use for centuries. For the United Stated coca is synonymous for drug trafficking – which goes hand in hand with terrorism. Terrorism is one if these magic words for the United States to give green light to intervene.

The way from the town Cochabama to Chapare appears like an inferno: more and more heat, more and more humidity and more and more mosquitos. But there is nothing traditional about the “red inferno”. In the Chapare region the color green reigns. Green hills, green military and green vegetation define everything.

They wear their M16 under their arms, monition on the belt, compass and a first aid set in their bags, hats due to the sun and heavy military boots. We get nearer and nearer. Even from a hundred meter distance you feel an unusual smell. A mixture from chemical substances and decay. The soldiers, who leads the troops, gives us a sign, how and where we have to run. Their camouflage suit matches the vegetation and they pass fast from our view.

Behind a kind of plant wall, there is the famous cocaine factory. It’s a meager hall, built with wooden balks and a canvas cover as a roof. On the floor there are some old shoes and some rest of bread, which indicate the resent present of men. The workers have fled. One of the soldiers tries to outrun them, but comes back without success. It seems as there will be no arrest made today and the boss will not be pleased. The duty of the “leopards” is, to burn everything. They destroy the “rests of production” in a well and set everything on fire. The diesel is feeding the lamas, they grow faster and devour the accumulated diesel plant mixture. The smell drags further, like the convey on the green world does.

Nicolas Ure born 4. March 1978 in Buenos Aires is photographer, video artist and creative designer.

Nicolas learned from the most talented Argentinean masters of photography and worked as freelance photographer for the most important publishers and magazines of Argentina. After some experiments with light design for theater he made a short excurse to cinema advertisement for producers like Encuadre or Cine Tauro and worked as creative director and producer for independent short movies. Yet in the age of 19 he gave lesions in camera work and black and white development for students of various ages.

Vernissage on the 2nd November at 8pm – Exhibition till 29. November