Page 97 - ARTE!Brasileiros #50

production of other peoples (as much as this may convey an “idea of wonder” and that show the this term might mean in Western art schools, if

also happen), nor of working in line of ethnology wisdom of indigenous peoples. He also refers it is guided by the eyes of the non-indigenous
samples, with a more scientific, academic to something that Darcy Ribeiro once called intellectual”, says Naine Terena, who is currently
or historical bias. A strong characteristic of “the will to beauty”, that is, an aesthetic care working on setting up the exhibition at the
the current movement is the close dialogue present in the entire production of indigenous Pinacoteca. At the same time, the production of
with the indigenous people themselves, peoples, ranging from the most ephemeral to several contemporary indigenous artists based
active participants in the construction of the the most lasting. on what Naine calls a “gathering” of techniques
exhibitions, and care not to folk or exoticize “There is this remarkable beauty in things,” - indigenous and western - has contributed to
the productions. In this sense, MASp hired the agrees Caiuby, referring to Amerindian the development of a fertile field of creation,
anthropologist Sandra Benites, of Guarani production. “Because what is right, what is in addition to being one of the reasons for the
Nhandewa origin, for its team, who became the done well, has to be beautiful. And this is related increasing visibility this work.
first indigenous curator in a major art institution to another characteristic of these peoples, which According to Baniwa, when these artists
in the country, and the Pinacoteca invited artist is that they do not differentiate things that we propose to use non-indigenous languages, it
and researcher Naine Terena, of Terena origin, consider as separate spheres: ethics, aesthetics is also a strategy of talking to those who are
to cure a show. and morals. So what is aesthetically beautiful not part of those cultures. He also states that
The work with the contemporary universe, is because it is ethically correct and morally by working, through art, with themes that
therefore, seeks to break the ingrained right”, And she exemplifies: “We can admire he already dealt with in his struggle in the
stereotype that the indigenous people “are a sunset with pollution, because we say that it indigenous movement, he manages to touch
part of our past”. Contrary to recent speech gets redder, but that for them is unacceptable”. people through a bias more linked to emotion
by President Jair Bolsonaro, who stated that and affectivity. This rapprochement with
“more and more the Indian is a human being dIversIty and art concept institutions or the art market, unlike what the
like us”, it is clear that the indigenous world is When highlighting the characteristics current government’s “evolutionist” view would
not only part of the present, but can teach us common to indigenous peoples, the curators say, does not make these indigenous people
about other possible futures, as Viveiros de and artists of the exhibitions also pay attention less indigenous people, as is clear from their
Castro at Flip asked. “In the 16th century, the to the danger of homogenizing the production work and speeches of affirming identities. “The
Jesuits thought of the indigenous people as and thinking of different ethnic groups, reducing cultures are not watertight, stopped. We all live
beast-beasts, that is, beings in transition from the enormous Amerindian plurality as if it were from the absorption of things that come from
animal to human status. And that mentality one. In the exhibition Encontros Ameríndios, for outside , ”says Caiuby. And if indigenous people

typical of that time is the same as that of the example, a diversity of languages and themes are transformed in contact with whites, it may
president today”, says Caiuby. are explicit in the works of people from different be time, before it is too late, to become more
The anthropologist also points out that continents. Mythological beings, beings from deeply in our contact with indigenous people.
the most preserved areas in the Amazon are the forest, themes related to contact - in addition
indigenous lands. “Many do not realize that to videos that refer to the production of the INTERVIEW: DENILSON BANIWA [pAgES 36 TO 42]
the wealth is in the forest standing, not cut works themselves - are some of the issues that
down. And the indigenous people, more than arise in the work on various supports, whether ART IS NOT
anyone, are not separated from nature. I think in the wooden boxes made by Haida, on the
this view of many of them is important, that panel painted by Shipibo Conibo or on the DISCONNECTED
rivers, mountains, land, they act and react. The springs (textile art) of the Guna. Works made FROM LIFE
land bleeds, ”he explains. “Watch the rivers of from traditional graphics, shamanic themes,
São Paulo manifest. We built cities on them, spirituality, the issue of exile and works of
landed them, left them without porosity, and strong political nature are also present in the Interview with one of the exponents of
they revolt. ” As the indigenous leader Marivelton contemporary production of several indigenous indigenous representation on visual arts
Baré wrote in an article in Folha de S.Paulo, artists. By JAMyLE RkAIN
“what our ancestors knew instinctively thousands “They are peoples that have many similarities
of years ago, today is proven by the science of and differences between them. And I think this wInner of the pIpa onlIne award in
the white man. The same science that these meeting between them is an opportunity to 2019, Denilson Baniwa describes himself
people deny. Are we the backwards?” see that”, says Caiuby. “In fact, they are people as an indigenous artist, who is indigenous
Director of the Afro Brasil Museum and who value difference very much and do not, and is an artist. Born in a community of the
curator of the exhibition Heranças de um in contrast to us, transform it into inequality.” Baniwa people in Rio Negro, in the state of
Profundo Brasil, Emanoel Araujo follows the Among the similarities, the anthropologist Amazonas, the artist spe aks in an interview
same line. “There is this unfortunate urge to emphasizes the importance of exchange to ARTE!BRASILEIROS about his insertion in
take the entire forest and turn it into soy and and reciprocity as principles of social life, as the arts circuit, about decoloniality, cultural
cattle. That is why these exhibitions come at a well as the historical process of domination appropriation and the sacred.
crucial moment. And people need to be aware, to which they were subjected. There is also
because as this seems to be far from us, who a clear perception that the concept of “art”
live in the city, a lot of people have no idea as used in the Western world is not suitable – What is indigenous art today
what is happening”. The exhibition at the Afro for Amerindian thought. “For us, there is no in the Brazilian art scene?
Museum brings together a great diversity of difference between art and life or art and db - This question of indigenous art
material production from peoples such as the resistance as there is in the West, where art in contrast to art “considered art” is
Karajá, Marubo, Kayapó, Panará and Juruna - is an instrument of power in relation to other something that has been discussed for
among masks, ornaments, basketwork and a human beings”, says Denilson Baniwa (read a long time. I think even before I had this
rich collection of feather art - placed in dialogue more in an interview with ARTE!BRASILEIROS). whole indigenous group working and
with photographs of Western names like Albert Thus, the confused and problematic circulating. I think what is different now is
Frisch, Marc Ferrez, Maureen Bisiliat and Nair distinction between what would be art or that there are so many indigenous artists
Benedicto and paintings by José Roberto Aguilar, handicrafts in indigenous production comes with a power of approximation and a very
Claudio Tozzi and Rubens Ianelli. There is also to have more space in the contemporary debate strong voice, who can talk and say a point
a large thatch building made by members of of institutions, curators, gallery owners and that was not seen before, which is from
the Mehinako ethnic group, named Casa dos artists. According to Barcelos Neto, in a recent these indigenous people. For us, there is
Homens, and contemporary works by Denilson interview with the newspaper Nexo, indigenous no difference between art and life or art and
Baniwa. production exhibited in museums of modern resistance as it does in the West, where art
“This exhibition celebrates the lives of these and contemporary art is usually restricted to is an instrument of power in relation to other
forest people who, over the centuries, live that made with techniques and supports similar human beings. But when these indigenous
and survive being thwarted by white men. (…) to those canonized by Western art. In general, artists propose to circulate in a way that
These people who were here and who remain a classification specific to Western art applies uses non-indigenous languages, it is also
here in lands where they have always been to indigenous production, based on aesthetic, a strategy of talking in a language that is
the owner, forever, ”writes the curator in a plastic and utilitarian parameters that are alien understood by those who are not part of
text about the exhibition. Araujo also points to the indigenous themselves. that culture. I think that if we started to
out that the exhibition does not exactly have “I can tell you that some of the indigenous work with codes that only, for example, the
an anthropological or academic character, artists and collectives I talk to are not concerned Baniwas understood, it would be difficult for
but proposes a collection of pieces that with the concepts of Western art. Not even what my work to talk to those who are not Baniwa.

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