Paradoxes of Plenty #39

Belonging to the larger Paradossi dell’Abbondanza (Paradoxes of Plenty) series, the themes of these works Paradoxes of Plenty #39, #43, #44, are the relationships between coffee, sugarcane, and cocoa plantations, and the colonial extractive exploitation that historically enabled their cultivation through slavery. The colorful appearance of these works, reminiscent of children’s illustrations, conceals the paradox of the West’s favored consumption of products derived from these crops and the exploitation, punctuated by economic and social injustice, imposed on workers in the Global South. Through its fame, cocoa has quickly become an element linked to many critical issues: from the production method that causes deforestation and child labor, to the purchase price that is too low compared to the cost of production. For example, in countries where cocoa production is higher, it has been reported that workers live in conditions of poverty that lead, as in the Ivory Coast, to an accelerated loss of green lungs and the disappearance, in the last fifty years, of 80% of the forests. In Paradoxes of Plenty #39, Marzia Migliora juxtaposes the two contrasting aspects of the world of cocoa: joyful faces taken from the advertising posters of the economic boom coexist with men and women who work hard in the fields, staging the story of a delocalization not only of people and goods, but also of values ​​and political perspectives.