Rimer Cardillo : a journey to Ombú Bellaumbra

The Ombú tree—a rapid-growing evergreen with an umbrella-like canopy, native to South America—serves as a beautiful metaphor for Rimer Cardillo’s expansive work in this mid-career retrospective. By using a variety of media and techniques—prints, site-specific installations, handmade paper sculptures, as well as photo- and film-based documentary work—Cardillo conveys his deep commitment to sustainability, supporting diverse ecologies, restoring natural environments, and protecting and preserving vulnerable environments, cultures, and peoples. In this exhibition catalog, honoring the artist’s longstanding relationship with the Art Museum of the Americas, Cardillo explores the human footprint on wildlife, flora, and landscapes across a vast geography, ranging from his native Uruguay to the grasslands of New York’s Hudson Valley where he currently lives and works. In a world where the indigenous and the native are increasingly under threat, Cardillo’s work draws inspiration from native histories as well as natural textures, colors, and design to formulate his own coded visual language that critiques contemporary conditions created by turbulent, undemocratic regimes in Latin America.