The avocado phenomenon

Fernando has always been guided by his strong social conscience, and his work often explores the cultural and environmental implications of a single material. For a previous project, he developed Totomoxtle – a veneer made from upcycled corn husks – to celebrate the rainbow of heirloom varieties native to Mexico and question the monoculture of yellow corn that dominates supermarkets.

“This project was all about helping a community of Indigenous farmers,” Fernando says. “It’s looking at ways of creating a new material that will help them return to traditional ways of farming, reintroducing practices with corn that have been lost.”

With Conflict Avocados – a work commissioned by the NGV for the 2023 Triennial exhibition – he examines the impact of another crop.

Avocados are native to Mexico, and the region has a rich history of cultivating them. Over the years, the state of Michoacán has become a major hub for avocado production, producing around 5.5 billion pounds of the fruit each year.

“Michoacán exports 80 per cent of the avocados in the US and about 50 per cent of all the avocados in the world,” says Fernando.

Despite there being many varieties of avocado, the Hass avocado is the most popular. This was partly the result of an effective Super Bowl campaign in the US in the 90s; it’s estimated that around 105 million pounds of guacamole are consumed by Americans on Super Bowl Sunday.

The popularity of Hass avocados has reshaped Mexico’s top growing region. “The Hass has become the avocado of choice because it travels the best, it’s been designed to be exported,” says Fernando.