La Mode Pratique Series (003). Traces of Abuse 

Watercolor, Ink & Pencil on Paper 30” x 44” 

Sugar Bag

2020 

Florida landscape has also been subjected to the will of powerful conglomerates that make up the sugar industry, a.k.a. Big Sugar, creating nearly irreversible damage. Sugar fields cover most of the Everglades Agricultural Area, and for decades sugar producers fed the cane with phosphorus-rich fertilizers. The waste was back-pumped into Lake Okeechobee, causing a massive buildup of polluted mud that covers the lakebed and nourishes the explosive growth of blue-green algae that spreads across the lake’s surface to Florida’s shoreline, causing toxic conditions for wildlife and humans.

The color of the seaweed was a visual and thematic inspiration for the creation of this piece. Another native girl dressed in the Victorian style wears a skirt colored with the image of seaweed.

La Mode Pratique Series (002). The Sweetest Deal

Watercolor & Pencil on Paper 30” x 44” 

Sugar Bag

2020

Burning sugar cane in a controlled manner facilitates the harvest. García understands fire metaphorically in this piece as something that never ceases, nature’s rebellion against man-made limitations, so that someday the natural flow of water will be restored and the Everglades will be healed.