Fallen Fruit's Los Angelitos de Nuestra Señora del Jardin at Vallarta Botanical Gardens

The Californian artist duo Fallen Fruit, composed of Austin Young and David Allen Burns, has unveiled a permanent site-specific installation titled 'Los Angelitos de Nuestra Señora del Jardin' at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The work transforms the garden's chapel into a contemporary fresco-like environment, with walls entirely covered in wallpaper made from hundreds of original photographs taken by the artists at different times of year, combined with drawings and lithographs by Mexican botanist Rafael Montes de Oca and British ornithologist John Gould. The wallpaper, created using watercolors and 100% biodegradable cotton fabric, depicts plants and animals native to the botanical garden. The installation symbolizes the phases of the day, transitioning from morning colors at the altar to night colors at the opposite side. The title refers to hummingbirds, which the artists call 'Angelitos' or little angels. Fallen Fruit previously created a similar wallpaper installation for Palazzo Butera in Palermo during Manifesta 2018, titled 'Theatre of the Sun,' and later reprised it at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for the 2019 exhibition 'FOOD: Bigger than the Plate.' In 2019, they also installed 'Spektro Completo/Iridescenza' at the Culture Concept Store of the Orto Botanico in Palermo, a three-part work exploring color gradients.