The “Action” that took place on Cotijuba Island, captured by Rafael Maciel, is a synthesis of historical research into the events surrounding rubber on the island Cotijuba and the emotional journey I experienced during my stay in Brazil. Rubber is a material that has inflicted many scars and injuries on the people who have worked with or been exploited because of it. These scars should not be forgotten, even if they have long since healed, as they remain tangible and visible today.

As an individual, I bear scars accumulated throughout my lifetime, some deep and some superficial, etched into my soul and body, akin to the cuts on the Seringa tree. Having grown up in Switzerland as a queer person living non-conformingly with a migrant background, I am familiar with the taste of being simultaneously stigmatized and fetishized—a desirable yet perpetually excluded exotic entity.

"Seringal" serves as a tangible manifestation and recollection of the tears shed for the injustices, racism, exploitation, homophobia, transphobia, and inequality I have witnessed and experienced throughout my conscious life in different countries, including Switzerland. I employ the term "recollection" because my time in Brazil rekindled and unearthed some of these old wounds, guiding me towards a newfound self-awareness.

Moreover, "Seringal" serves as a poignant reminder that the exploitation of both people and nature by colonial powers persists to this day, not solely in the rubber trade but in various other forms. Opportunistic extractivism aimed at bolstering one's own power and status without offering anything in return remains prevalent and must be combated.