I went to the museum today and stood around this piece in silence for the most of an hour. It's called Missaol Missoes (How to Build Cathedrals) by Brazilian artist Cildo Miereles. It's made out of 600,000 coins, 800 communion wafers, 2,000 cattle bones and 80 paving stones. This evocative installation critiques the Jesuit missions established in colonial times to convert the indigenous Tupi-Guarani people to Catholicism. It is a contemporary "cathedral" to expose the social and political forces behind these missions. The column of communion wafers show religion's role in linking the creation of wealth (the coins on the ground) to agricultural exploitation (the suspended cattle bones), suggesting that the conquest of the Americas was as much about economics as it was about religion or saving souls.
Wow - I would love to see this too. Let's face it the conquering of the Americas was ALL about the total abuse of the indigenous peoples to gain gold, silver and anything else of value through any hideous means possible. The greed of the human soul, completely run amuck to the ruination of millions of people (to this day). Rae
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