A Seed Grows in Curacao
"Semilla" is a sculpture made of scrap metal from the 100-year-old oil refinery that recently closed in Curacao, which has now been transformed into a sustainable business center.
Giovanni Abath was a steelworker at the Isla oil refinery in Curacao for many years.
The Isla oil refinery in Curacao — at one time the largest in the world — dated back to 1918, a deep-harbored option to refine the oil from nearby Venezuela. It was, for 100 years, the financial engine of the island. But it closed in 2019, and through a variety of factors — including the pandemic and strained relations with Venezuela — it has remained shut.
Abath, like many employees on the island’s largest employer, was unsure what to do next. But both he and the refinery have forged a new path, one that is turning away from fossil fuels and embracing a renewable and sustainable future.
This week, the Isla refinery was rechristened 2 Bays, which will oversee the transformation of the area into a center for circular business enterprises.
And Abath has transformed, as well, into an artist who goes by 7.1 (those numbers corresponding with where his initials fall in the alphabet). Curacao Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas unveiled a new sculpture by 7.1 on Tuesday night at the launch of the 2 Bays complex — a sculpture called “Semilla” (which, like Spanish, is the local Papamiento language word for “Seed”). Semilla depicts a giant seed emerging from the wreckage of an industrial spout, a metaphor for a sustainable future developing out of what was once dirty energy. The materials used in making Semilla include scrap metal from the Isla refinery.
Since leaving the refinery, 7.1 has also become a prolific street artist, responsible for an array of murals and other outdoor installations in the Otrabanda neighborhood of Curacao’s capital city, Willemstad.
During World War II, Curacao was an important locale because of the refinery. It powered Allied forces, and 8,000 American troops were sent there to protect it from German attacks during the war. (While there, they taught the islanders baseball, and now Curacao enjoys a curious stat: it has more Major League Baseball players per capita than any other place on the planet.)
Curacao Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas, center, in front of artist 7.1's "Semilla" at the christening of a new circular-economy center on the site of a former oil refinery in Curacao. Also in photo are personnel from the Curacao government, the UN, Greening the Islands, and Brooklyn Story Lab.
Curacao is an autonomous country within the kingdom of the Netherlands, and it is one of almost a dozen island countries or territories that has signed a pledge with our nonprofit partner Blue Planet Alliance to transition to 100% renewable energy. And this week, Brooklyn Story Lab has been in Curacao to attend the annual Greening the Islands summit and to meet with government officials to help facilitate the transition, as Blue Planet Alliance, Greening the Islands, and Brooklyn Story Lab work together to help similar seeds emerge all over the world.
