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'No to Corporativism', Anonymous student work, Queen's University, Belfast. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

This piece was created as part of an assessment for a final year undergraduate course on literature and the environment.

The student created a vivid image of a short story ‘Abacá’ by Tatiana Lobo set in Costa Rica and detailing the impact on society of greed and misuse of natural resources. The distortion of nature is depicted in the red sky, the grey dust clouds, and the feeble sun that is neither rising nor setting. He was able to add an extra dimension to this part by using real ash and dry brown leaves to give the effect of destruction and infertility. The use of real money enhances the branches of the plant and depicts how desire for it and the greed it creates still has a devastating effect on small self-sufficient communities.

He draws on accounts from friends in Mexico that farmers often look for new ways of selling their goods in order to avoid the exploitation of large corporations. The message 'NO TO CORPORATIVISM' at the top of the arpillera is a symbol of solidarity with the Mexican farmers who still battle with large drinks companies.

The exhibition Story Threads: Creative Readings (2024) celebrates over a decade of creative assessments made by students of Spanish in the School of Arts, English and Languages, Queen’s University Belfast.

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