JAIDER ESBELL _1979-2021
“I’ve never taken a course in art history, I’ve never taken a course in almost anything related to art, but very early on I had access to cosmology, right? Another type of art,” says Jaider Esbell. The artist is a member of the indigenous Makuxi people, whose land is occupied by Roraima, the northern state of Brazil, as well as parts of Guyana and Venezuela. “Mount Roraima is an indigenous work of art, a mythological, cosmological, and even geological work of art. Why is it a work of art? Because Makunaimî” – who the Makuxi consider both a god and an ancestor – “drew it, he made it with the axe and created that sculpture. That’s long, long before Europe existed, long before a museum existed in Europe. So we’re actually way ahead of Europe – light years.” (Excerpt from Article on Artreview.com)
DENILSON BANIWA
“Histories of colonization and Indigenous resistance are the points of origin for my work. I think about the criticism of the appropriation of Indigenous people’s bodies and images, but also how these people were able to resist over time, even with all the violence they suffered in the Brazilian historical process.” Denilson Baniwa interview with digitalbrazilproject.com
KASSIA BORGES MYTARA
“My individual exhibition Femme Jiboia explores the deep and multifaceted significance of the jiboia (the sacred boa constrictor) in Brazilian Indigenous culture. For our many ethnic groups, such as the Huni Kuin, the jiboia is a sacred being associated with various cultural and spiritual aspects. As the guardian of Indigenous graphic symbols, it represents traditional patterns and designs used in crafts and other cultural expressions. In Indigenous culture, geometric shapes symbolize not only mathematical knowledge and rational thought but also the very essence of cultures and ethnicities. Their repetition signifies social organization and respect for rules within communities. The jiboia is a symbol of protection and wisdom, frequently mentioned in myths and stories. It is powerful, hypnotic, influential, and a guardian of forests and rivers. Moving in curves and in harmony with nature, it remains in constant contact with the earth while possessing the strength and mastery to move powerfully.” Kássia Borges Mytara - Huni Kuin Artist and Curator
GUSTAVO CABOCO
‘Belonging to the Wapichana people, his artistic practice unfolds across visual arts, film, and literature. Caboco’s work provides lenses through which to reflect on the displacement of Indigenous bodies, processes of (re)territorialization, and the creation of memory. A significant portion of his projects occurs in educational settings—schools, universities, cultural centers, Indigenous and quilombola communities. He conducts independent research in museum collections and archives as a means of challenging hegemonic colonial narratives.’ (Text: PIPA-Prize)
NATALIA LOBO
'Natália Lobo is an indigenous woman with Tupinambá roots, and works as a visual artist, dance artist, and art educator. She currently lives in Belém do Pará, but she grew up in the northern part of Macapá - Amapá. Her work addresses themes such as: spirituality, territoriality, and indigenous empowerment in the city.'
CARMENZIA EMILIANO
'The question of ancestral wisdom and the exchange of knowledge lie at the heart of her compositions. Through them, C. Emiliano brings to life the daily practices and knowledge of the Macuxi people – especially those of the women, who serve as the primary guardians of these ancestral traditions.' Excerpt from AwareWomenArtists.com-Article
Amazonian Indigenous Artists from Colombia
AIMEMA UAI
“I don’t speak only for myself. I speak for the forest, for the rivers, for the ancestors who keep conversing through the Mambe. Painting also carries that word, because it keeps speaking where we no longer are.” Aimema Úai’s work thus sustains a double dimension: restoring the spiritual memory of the Murui-Muina people and projecting it into the present. “Without dance, the house falls. Without mambe, the word dries up. That’s why I paint—to keep the house standing.” (Excerpt from an interview with Forgeproject.com)
BENJAMIN JACANAMIJOY TOSIOY
“My artistic work is defined by my interest in recovering the history of my ancestors. I believe that my work in the field of painting will enable people to understand the concept of identity as a process of strengthening one's sense of self.” Benjamín Jacanamijoy Tosioy _Uaira Uaua (Hijo del Viento)
ABEL RODRIGUEZ _MOGAJE GUIHU _1943-2025
‘Abel, however, does not consider himself to be making contemporary art as defined by the West: “We don’t really have that concept, but the closest one I can think of is iimitya, which in Muinane means ‘word of power’—all paths lead to the same knowledge, which is the beginning of all paths.”’ (Text by José Roca - documenta14.de)
AYCOOBO _WILSON RODRIGUEZ
“The origin of Nature is present within humanity. But how do we connect? Though an artwork, we reach the same roots of each human being. In this case my roots. Everything planted with love, worked with love becomes a success. Love softens and sweetens the heart.” (Aycoobo - Wilson Rodriguez Video-Portrait by Luisa Strina Gallery)
Amazonian Indigenous Artists from Ecuador
ANGELICA ALAMOTO
A Quechua visual artist, she combines ancestral ceramics with contemporary practices. Her works evoke rituals, spirituality, feminine knowledge, and ecology. The artist investigates the body, memory, and resistance within the Amazonian territory, and brings indigenous worldviews and the appreciation of Quechua culture, especially among women as creators and curators of traditional knowledge.’ (Text: Biennal Das Amazonias)
Amazonian Indigenous Artists from Venezuela
SHEROANAWE HAKIHIIWE
‘Working between drawing, painting, and printmaking, Yanomami artist Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe carries forms of knowledge, spirituality, labour, and aesthetics in Indigenous life that have survived colonisation onto the page. [..] Hakihiiwe has often said in interviews that he alludes to ancient patterns, shapes, and forms in an effort to preserve memory.’ Text: Madeline Weisburg - Biennale di Venezia
JOSECA MOKAHESI YANOMAMI
“I don’t draw without a reason. I take inspiration in the words I hear from the shamans, those who have the most beautiful chants, those who really know how to make the words of the xapiri pë spirits be heard. When they hold their sessions, I listen to their chants and record all these words in my mind, which I later dream about and transform into drawings.” Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami - Source: @almeidaedale
DAWA GARCIA YEKWANA
“Weaving is not just weaving, it is weaving wisdom and life; weaving connects us with nature. Nature carries our blood and we carry her blood; we are nature itself, that is to say, we are one. Through our weaving, the Ye'kwana culture is preserved, and by weaving our symbols, we connect with the universe.” Dawa Yekwana _ Artisan and Artist Yekwana
ANDRE TANIKI YANOMAMI
‘André Taniki Yanomami was born around 1945 in the village of Okorasipëki, at the headwaters of the Lobo d’Almada River in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, Roraima. In addition to being an artist, Taniki is a shaman—a mediator between the human and spiritual worlds in Indigenous and traditional cultures, capable of communicating with spirits, healing, and balancing visible and invisible forces through rituals, chants, and trances. Between 1976 and 1985, Taniki developed a body of drawings in dialogue with an artist, an anthropologist, and missionaries.’ (Text: Image Being - Exposition at Museo de Arte de São Paulo)