De Lama Lamina

De lama lâmina (2004) is a video extension of the performance created in collaboration with musician Arto Lindsay during the 2004 Carnival in Salvador. Instead of the traditional trio elétrico (a large mobile sound stage used during Carnival), an enormous tractor, which in the work performs as a kind of float, is accompanied by the Afro bloc Cortejo Afro. Between the wheels of the machine stands Greenman, a hybrid figure, part man, part plant, while outside, a character inspired by an environmental activist climbs the large tree being carried by the tractor. Fascinated by the relationship between seemingly opposing elements, Matthew Barney explores, among other topics, the connection between creation and destruction in both ecological and sociopolitical contexts. The title references two deities of Candomblé: Ossanha, the orixá of plants and vital forces of nature, and Ogum, the orixá of iron and war.