One should plant trees
ARTBUG x SomoS
Visit Us
Address
2441 Hunter Street
Unit B.
Los Angeles CA 90023
Opening hours
July 7th
6-9:30pm
performance at 8pm
On view
July 9: 1-4pm
July 10: 1-4pm
July 13: 1-7pm
July 14: 1-7pm
July 16: 1-4pm
About
SomoS Arts presents One should plant trees, a solo exhibition by Lara Salmon at Artbug Gallery as part of B-LA Connect. Salmon was an artist-in-resident at SomoS in 2018 at which time she presented a performance and solo exhibition in their Berlin space. She returned to SomoS the following year for an exhibition with collaborator Regina Mamou. One should plant trees is comprised of the performance film Apliki Cu and a six-day durational performance by the artist in the gallery. A zine publication designed by Vanessa Dahbour accompanies the exhibition.
Cyprus is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea known for copper. Under the direction of Salmon’s great-grandfather, a U.S. company titled the Cyprus Mines Corporation began operations in Cyprus 100 years ago. This was the start of modern mining on the island, an industry that brought prosperity to its economy at the expense of workers’ health and toxic devastation to the land. In 2021 Salmon returned to Cyprus to research minerology, mining history, and archaeology on the island in order to understand her family’s role in this past. Her mother, Niki Salmon, joined her in November to film the performance Apliki Cu at an abandoned copper mine. Their actions embody generational sorrow as mother and daughter acknowledge inherited implication in the land’s destruction. This exhibition marks the first screening of Apliki Cu.
Salmon’s durational performance in the gallery takes cue from the phrase: to rehabilitate the land of open-cast mines one should plant trees. Trees have natural detoxifying properties that, over decades, can rebalance acidic earth. With delicate determination she attaches herself to a tree for the exhibition’s open hours. Her objective is to learn arboreal sensibility, and, with this, return to the mining ecosphere of Cyprus. The piece calls to a need for atonement, in this situation and many others. At the same time, it marks the futility of a single woman’s action.
One should plant trees runs from July 7- July 16. Visitors can view the film and ongoing live performance at the times below. There will be initial and final rituals on closing and opening dates.
ARTBUG
ARTBUG is a brand-new, LA-based art gallery with a clear mission: to enhance the visibility of Latinx artists and curators, through a multi-platform project located in the heart of the Arts District. We aim to host different and diverse voices, formats and pursuits by showcasing projects, exhibitions and events. We want to fill our physical space with the interest and participation of new visitors and collaborators.
SomoS
SomoS is a non-commercial artist-run art space emphasizing interdisciplinary projects, intergenerational community, and diversity, founded in 2012. Working with emerging and mid-career artists, SomoS provides space, knowledge, and resources for the arts' production, presentation, and reflection. Its mission is to create an open international framework for innovative arts, curatorial projects, education, and creative cooperation. SomoS' engaged schedule of exhibitions, performances, seminars, and artist talks is free to the public. It aims to spark interest, discussion, cooperation, and understanding, activating art's unique positive uniting potential.