Golden Nopal I Print

This project was born a long time ago, with an extraordinary story about WWII and the Nazi concentration camps. I once read something about a Jew survivor living in Mexico. She was shocked when she saw Mexicans eat cactus. She couldn’t believe what she saw —Mexicans take o the thorns of the cactus and cook it, sometimes by itself and some- times as part of more complex dishes; and that is not the end, because the plant is nutritious and healthy. The nopales (cacti) are one of the species of Cactaceae. The Spanish brought it from the Americas to Europe. The surprising thing is how they assumed that, at most, the plant’s usefulness was limited to being a “natural” fence for their castles. The idea of how the conquerors brought the plant but not the learning about it, how they despised indigenous knowledge about indigenous land is creating now a big problem in Spain. The nopales or “chumbera” as they are called in Spain are now considered a plague in the Iberian Peninsula. Golden Nopales is a tribute to all despised knowledge that has been eliminated by the Colonial Period. Golden Nopales is a way to reclaim ancient wisdom and fight for decolonisation, and to tell Old Europe that it is time to learn about other ways to live with nature.