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ENGLISH VERSION ORIGINS

there was an alliance and respect. The it. An ancestor long silenced. We call this We have 11 Tupinambá mantles in
story told in Brazil about the Tupinambás an agentic object. It carries spirituality, Europe. They are in Brussels, Basel and
has another aspect, making our presence it is an artifact promoted by Tupinambá Copenhagen. And another three in Italy:
invisible. For people to understand rituals. Not everyone understands what two in Florence, one in Milan. Others in
why these European cloaks are in the an agentic object is; people with Christian, France.
possession of kings in Europe, they need Catholic, evangelical backgrounds, they
to know that this happened because it was have a vision of the sacred that I consider – The ibge Census estimated the
an alliance from king to king. People say a more volatile, which reduces the amount Tupinambá people in Brazil at more than
lot of things, but you need to understand of what it means to us. An ancestor is a 7 thousand individuals. Did this number
this continuous thread. living being. And that explains what led surprise you?
these people to take care of this fragile Look, I don’t work with numbers, I think
– Originally, the cloak was made thing for so long; you see it today, it looks it’s still not enough. We must remember
of maned feathers. But that’s no longer new. It looks like it was done yesterday. It that we do not speak the language of
possible today, is it? is much more than sacred to us; saying the colonizer. I don’t speak Portuguese,
Thank God, there are still maneds. And it is sacred reduces the power of what it I don’t speak English, I don’t speak African.
now, the guarás have arrived in Bahia, represents. I don’t speak Tupi. We speak our language,
there is a city called Salinas that has a we managed to counter this logic of
mangrove that has guarás. But the cloak I – Until 2009, the Tupinambás were invisibilization. More and more people are
made, I made with the macaw feathers that considered extinct in Brazil. Now, they becoming aware to understand that their
were there at my disposal. The birds leave are repatriating their History and their place in the territory is unique, it is their
their feathers for me, there’s no need to artifacts. It’s been an intense series of place, of their existence within a Nation.
kill them, they change their feathers every events, hasn’t it? And then they develop their awareness
year. I use the ones I have on hand: bone- I, in my ignorance of other people’s of the world.
billed thrush, sparrowhawk, forest canary, thoughts, say that it is difficult to say what
inhambu, tuurim. Just now I received I am feeling. There are people who look exhibitions indigenous stories [pages 72 to 79]
hundreds of Guará feathers from an artist at the mantle and don’t see it and see an
in a quilombo. Once we learn the knot, aesthetic object, there are people who also AN EXISTENTIAL
the mesh, the guiding thread, anything think that we never existed. But we exist and MILESTONE
is possible. It is not a replica. It’s about we are here. We needed to isolate ourselves
understanding this complexity, because so as not to become completely extinct, Collective from seven countries shows the
that makes the thread understandable. right? Because we live in the cocoa region, ancestral tradition reflected in the works of
You need to internalize, listen. In general, the colonels region, and you know what 170 artists from original peoples
we always think about each other teaching, that’s like. In 2000, when we started the by leonor amarante
right? People no longer dream, they think recognition process, we needed to gather
everything is material, everything is factual, all the evidence because there was not yet how to confront the orientation of
everything is Marxist, right (laughs). So, Convention 169, that of self-declaration the artistic works of indigenous peoples in
this cloak that I’m going to present now, (standard established by the International the face of the dilemma of the new, which
feminine, I presented in 2021 at Casa do Labor Organization, signed by Brazil in moves the art system in the world? The
Povo. This is the one who is doing the work 2002), so we had to gather all the evidence, works gathered in the Indigenous Stories
of paving the way for the mantle that will even archaeological sites, to prove that exhibition, on display at Masp, provide a
come from Denmark next year. we exist. We had to look for documents, significant cross-section of the production
historical photographs. So we returned to developed by indigenous people from seven
– The question is: if it is already the scene, coexisted again, and always in a countries: Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Canada,
possible to make new cloaks, there is scenario of conflict that is not small in our the United States, New Zealand and Norway.
already knowledge, what is the point of region. The mantle comes back to establish The contemporary debate about the identity
bringing the cloak from Denmark? Is it this connection. But it does not fit within of such artists points out that most of them
because it is sacred? Christian, evangelical parameters. Although are accepted and have a constant production,
The cloak and the Charmed Ones told it must be reintegrated, its existence must with some being in museum collections or
me to write a letter in 2022. I forwarded be reestablished in a dialogue with your art galleries. The exhibition’s time frame
the letter in September 2022 to Denmark. codes. And it is a donation treaty, there is goes from 200 bc to the present day and
Af er I listened, the mantle told me to ask no conflict in this case. The return of the reaffirms the power of the cosmologies present
for this donation to the National Museum. Tupinambá Mantle takes place in a situation in the exhibition’s eight sections. As such,
Then they asked me: which mantle would in which the other understands what the Indigenous Stories involves 175 artists whose
have to come? The ambassador asked other needs. And you agree with that, right? ethnicities are spread across communities
me and I said: “The main robe, the one I remember the Danish ambassador joked or cities. On the one hand, the narratives
on display. He told me he was ready to with me one day: “What’s up? Is the mantle maintain that the ensemble›s productions
go back.” People laughed, they thought ready to go back?” And I said yes, he told contain stories of ancient teachings, absorbed
it wasn’t going to happen. I think a lot of me it’s ready, and he asked: “And which by “white people”, and also narratives about
people treat the cloak as an object, and one will come back?” I answered: the main the erasure of indigenous culture caused by
it is an ancestor. The return of the mantle, thing, what is on display in Denmark. And racism, abuse and violence against those
first of all, serves to reduce this ocean he laughed, and yet the cloak is coming considered “different”.
distance. He’s almost 400 years old, he’s back now, and I would like to meet him Indigenous Stories provokes the reading
an old man (laughs). And it has a structure, again to remember it. of some manifestations, such as the one that
but this willpower that he shows to return opens the exhibition, the video in which Airton
to his people has to be respected, he is – How many Tupinambá Cloaks are Krenak, one of the Brazilian indigenous leaders,
a returned ancestor, that’s how I define there in the world today? internationally recognized, presents himself in

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