The exhibition — that will be showcased at Fondation Martell (France), in 2025, and at CID Grand-Hornu (Belgium), in 2026 — will present a variety of works that deal with loss and damage, extinction, multispecies memory, ecological grief, climate justice, resistance, and remembrance.
The aim is to highlight that climate change is not just irremediably damaging the planet, but also that the loss of landscapes, ecosystems, and species is eroding multispecies relationships on which sensorial, emotional and gestural memories (i.e. cultures) depend. At the same time, the exhibition will also cast light on too often-neglected/hidden/muted causes of the climate crisis — namely the colonial enterprise, extractivism, and consumerism.
Drawing from the work of contemporary artists and designers, Memo will explore how ecological grief can spark action instead of stillness. And how artworks and design projects can become memory-triggers that encourage us all to remember, care and act.
About Fernando Laposse
Born in 1988, Fernando Laposse was trained in Central Saint Martins as a product designer. Fernando specializes in transforming humble natural materials into refined design pieces. He has worked extensively with overlooked plant fibers such as sisal, loofah, and corn leaves.
His works are the result of extensive research which culminates into objects of “endemic design” where materials and their historical and cultural ties to a particular location and its people take center stage. He often works with indigenous communities in his native Mexico to create local employment opportunities and raise awareness about the challenges they face in a globalized world.
His projects are informative and educational and touch on topics such as sustainability, the loss of biodiversity, community dissolution, migration and the negative impacts of global trade in local agriculture and food culture. He does so by documenting the issues and announcing possible resolutions through the transformative power of design.
His projects have been exhibited in the Triennale di Milano, Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, The Design Museum in London, Victoria and Albert, the World Economic Forum to name a few. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Design Museum Gent, Le centre national des arts plastiques, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Victoria & Albert Museum. Fernando Laposse is currently living and working in Mexico City.
