The exhibition “Isadora Romero — Notes on How to Build a Forest . After Nature Prize 25” at C/O Berlin takes its visitors into the heart of two Ecuadorian cloud forests. In close collaboration with local communities, scientists and research organisations, Isadora Romero has created a poetic and documentary series of images that illuminate the life, management and sustainable practices of these regions from different perspectives. The starting point for the work, which took over a year to complete, are community-organised reforestation initiatives and agroecological methods that become tangible in the photographs. There is a particular focus on the intergenerational transfer of knowledge, including the traditions of indigenous cultures such as the Yumbo and Jama Coaque, whose traces and artefacts Romero stages photographically on colourful fabrics.
Romero’s artistic approach goes beyond classic documentary photography: experimental material studies with plants and textiles meet photographs from local family archives that have been altered by the humidity of the forest. Modern technologies such as infrared and UV processes open up new, speculative perspectives on life in the forest and the perception of its animal inhabitants. The decolonial reflection of our understanding of nature is central — in Romero’s work, the forest appears not only as a CO₂ store or a projection surface for Western fantasies, but also as a living organism, a shared cultural memory and a collective place of negotiation. The exhibition invites visitors to think about new futures for the forest and to actively explore global responsibility in the age of the Anthropocene.
