"Love as Human Nature" made for Luminaria 2025 by Charlemagne Scarlett and Joshua Rodriguez
With this piece, we wanted to exemplify unity between people and call attention to our inherent need to act as wardens of the earth. In our fast paced world, many ecosystems and native animals are impacted in devastating ways. We hope that in viewing our sculpture and learning about the critters included, we as a community can do what we can to ensure their recovery, whether it is conserving water, reducing plastic waste, or quelling invasive species.
The piece features animals from Texas and Guam. Our Texas creatures include the ocelot, Mexican freetail bat, Texas blind salamander, golden cheeked warbler, and horny toad. In Texas, water shortages and shrinking natural habitats are placing our animals at risk.
Our Guam creatures include the green sea turtle, Mariana monitor lizard (hilitai), Guam rail (ko' ko'), Guam kingfisher (sihek), and coconut crab. In Guam, many animals are at risk due to deforestation and the invasive brown tree snake, which has decimated bird and lizard populations.
"Love as Human Nature" will also be shown from November 15 to December 14 at La Zona in the Rejuvenation exhibit, present by
@blacksheep.ex . Please come visit! There's so much more we would love to tell you about our sculpture and all the critters included!
Thank you to Jesse
@jesse.nicole312 for assistance with paper mache and painting! Thank you to Rudy
@rmhworks , Mauro
@maurodelatierra , Raven
@avocado.mariposa , Mel
@consciousbatcreates , and Peter for sharing the studio space and all the help moving the sculpture! Thank you to Canyon
@2deadsnakes for helping us with our list of endangered animals to highlight! Thank you to
@luminariasa for having us! And finally, thank you to all our friends and family who came to Luminaria and those who cheered us on from afar! We couldn't have done this without you guys!
With love,
Charlee and Josh 💓
