If any symbol has eternalized its meaning in the West, it has been the phallus: the testamentary voice of authorship and masculinity, the centrality of reason, and the exchange between gender differences. As a sign in modern visual culture, it appears not only as a symbol of power but also as part of a metaphorical display of the popular, as something pornographic; and among these symbols, the banana holds, if not the pedestal, at least an important place in the modern imagination of male eroticism and the phallic representation.

The banana has had a diverse symbolism in the West, from a racist icon to the quintessential comedic element. But the banana is a symbol that can be peeled to reveal the history of humanity, civilizations, and the transculturation of peoples.

What historical events have shaped the symbolism of this icon? How has the view of this fruit changed throughout history? What role has art played in the trajectory of this symbol? What has this fruit meant for humanity? What is its past and present in the West?

Coup d’états, banana republics, pop culture, kitsch, hunger, the most stubborn machismo, xenophobia and its symbolism, the gayest art, World War II and its paradigm shift, Canary Islands – the journey from Indonesia, USA, the CIA and its methods, Adam and Eve.

The banana embodies the place of those timeless symbols that, according to Jung, float in the collective memory of a people or civilization. The Musa Paradisiaca, the fruit of the Garden of Eden, is our protagonist, offering both the narrative thread and a creative and fascinating perspective.