O Gosto Do Vivo (2018)
O Gosto do Vivo is a herbarium created by Fotini Gouseti in 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The work consists of a second-hand photo album purchased from a street vendor, plants collected by the artist herself, and a diary-like text. The album contains pressed plants gathered from historically charged locations. Gouseti presents these plants as carriers of memory that testify to aspects of history related to colonization and slavery. The handwritten text included in the herbarium refers to the artist’s personal experiences during the process of collecting the plants and her encounter with specific facets of local history. Her narrative links the colonial past to the violent political conditions prevailing in Rio between March 6 and June 20, 2018, while she was there. The dried plants in the album document a position articulated by many residents of Rio: that the history of this place repeats itself again and again. From this perspective, the plants speak not only of the past and the present, but also foreshadow the future. O Gosto do Vivo is the result of the artist’s participation in the CAPACETE artist residency program in Rio de Janeiro.
