Edgar Kanaykõ Xakriabá

By LatAm ARTE

Edgar Kanaykõ Xakriabá is a native of the Xakriabá Indigenous Land, located between the municipalities of São João das Missões and Itacarambi, in the state of Minas Gerais. He is a photographer of the Xakriabá indigenous people, who belong to the second largest indigenous linguistic group in the country, the Macro-Jê of the Jê family, Akwẽ subdivision. Kanaykõ holds a degree in Intercultural Training for Indigenous Educators (Fiei/UFMG) and a Master’s degree in Social (visual) Anthropology from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). His dissertation, Etnovisão: “the indigenous gaze that crosses the lens”, (2019), is a discussion on the use of photography by indigenous peoples as an instrument of struggle and resistance and the concept of image, it is the first carried out by an indigenous researcher in UFMG graduate program. His composition is based on photographic records of his Xakriabá community, other peoples, as well as manifestations of the indigenous movement in the country.