“Weeds From Above”
2019
animation, video projection
Weeds, by definition, are invasive and are sources of food insecurity and economic instability for farmers. In the Philippines, farm lands are kept in check by the extensive labor pool. Give the Philippines’ massive population that revolve around agriculture, weeds are systematically and efficiently extracted. Thus, the true weed problem many farmers face for generations are plunderous politicians. The politics of the Philippines is feudal under the veneer of democracy. These politicians, many of whom are member of the powerful, influential elite landowning families of the country feed into the cycles of impunity, wreaking havoc and destruction. There have been massacres of farmers and their families that organize and protest against abuse, labor exploitation, and injustice. Current government policies have seen farmers selling their harvest for a pittance while many politicians fatten up their coffers by this exploitative system. Many farmers are forced to sell their lands to real estate developers — among the largest in the Philippines is owned by a senator. The weeds from above, are rapacious, massive tumor-like growth and metastasis of political control feed the weeds of cultural mendicancy that poison the lands.