SEMILLAS ESCARLATA, 2021
Seeds need light to germinate. Semillas Escarlata also need light to shine.
The magnolia symbolises dignity, strength, perseverance and new beginnings. Its scarlet seeds, poised between vermilion and crimson, contain the promise of extraordinary beauty. When magnolias bloom, they announce the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new cycle.
Magnolia grandiflora is native to the southern United States. The expression steel magnolia emerged there to describe the resilience and strength of Southern women. Billie Holiday often wore a white magnolia in her hair while performing. Her song Strange Fruit became one of the earliest and most powerful artistic protests against the racist lynching of African Americans, marking a turning point in the struggle for civil rights.
Gone with the Wind ends with Scarlett O’Hara standing against a deep red sky, declaring her determination to survive. At the same time, the film reflects the racism embedded in Hollywood’s history. Semillas Escarlata acknowledges this past while transforming its symbols into new meanings grounded in equality, justice and collective memory.
Semillas Escarlata represents ecofeminism, anti-racism, knowledge and hope. Like a seed, every act of learning and care has the potential to grow into something beautiful.
Magnolias evolved before bees and are pollinated by beetles. Their flowers are made of tepals rather than petals, and their strong trunks have long been valued for construction. Their fragrant blossoms are used in perfumery and decoration, while the bark has been employed in traditional medicine.
Light has symbolised knowledge, truth and guidance for thousands of years. It allows us to see clearly, to understand our surroundings and to move beyond fear and ignorance. Scarlet Seeds grows towards light as a metaphor for awareness, justice and transformation.
For more than 30,000 years, red has symbolised life, energy and renewal. Across cultures it represents courage, love, vitality, protection and celebration. In Chinese culture, red signifies happiness, prosperity and good fortune. In Cherokee teachings, it represents the sacred inner fire that inspires wisdom, responsibility and service to others. For alchemists, red symbolised transformation and the pursuit of higher knowledge.
Scarlet is therefore more than a colour. It is the colour of resilience, memory, change and life itself.
seed noun (feminine*)
1.
The grain or reproductive structure contained within the fruit of a plant which, when placed under suitable conditions, germinates and develops into a new plant of the same species.
“poppy seed”
2.
Something that is the origin or cause of something else, especially a feeling, an idea or something intangible.
“the seed of life”
semillas escarlata
BILLIE HOLIDAY
STRANGE FRUIT
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
Lidia de Pedro