Masp opens new exhibitions on indigenous arts

Indigenous stories, Diné/Navajo tapestry and Tupinambá knowledge are the themes of the new exhibitions on display at the São Paulo Museum of Art (Masp). The three new exhibitions make up the Year of Indigenous Stories, a theme that the museum chose to present and discuss the diversity and complexity of these cultures.

The first of these exhibitions – and the largest of them – is the group exhibition Indigenous Stories, which will present 285 works by approximately 170 indigenous artists and which traces a perspective from the period before European colonization to the present day. Through art and visual cultures, the public will be able to learn about different perspectives on the indigenous histories of South America, North America, Oceania and the Nordic Region. It is curated by Edson Kayapó, Kássia Borges Karajá and Renata Tupinambá, as well as several international guest curators.

“All these arts that will be exhibited portray the reality of indigenous peoples not only in Brazil, but in other countries. They represent the cosmologies of indigenous peoples, their history, their challenges. It is a way of trying to give visibility to these realities that are so little known by international communities and Brazilian society”, said Edson Kayapó, curator of indigenous arts at Masp and professor of indigenous history at the Federal Institute of Bahia (IFBA).

By history, the exhibition understands both historical accounts and personal narratives. “They are stories in the plural, bringing the idea that there is a very large diversity of memories, cosmologies, traditions, languages and different ways of social organization of each people. There are many stories and many ways of producing art because, obviously, these historical and sociolinguistic diversities have repercussions on the arts. Indigenous artists will produce art that speaks to their people,” said the curator.

Kayapó stated that the exhibition is also current and political, as it reflects on environmental preservation and climate change. “Indigenous arts, especially those that will be exhibited, are positioned. All arts produced by indigenous peoples are politically positioned and this positioning has to do with our belongings, our ethnic-racial identities and cosmologies”, said the curator. “Indigenous arts are also a political expression that has to do with time and the challenges that are posed”, he highlighted.

He recalled that not only environmental themes permeate the exhibition, but also the process of demarcating indigenous territories. “There is also, in the case of Brazil, a political position on the demarcation of our original territories, including so that we can calmly carry out the movement, which is necessary throughout the world, to preserve ecosystems and biomes. We are facing a global crisis, an international climate crisis that affects all people equally, and the global community is calling for the protection of forests, rivers and all biomes. Indigenous peoples do this par excellence, in an ancestral, immemorial way. If, in fact, the objective is to preserve the environment, demarcate indigenous territories because, certainly, the environment will be preserved”, he argued.

The exhibition was divided into eight sections, which begin with the theme of Activism, bringing together works from different indigenous social movements, in various formats such as flags, photographs, videos, paintings and posters. “This Activism nucleus is very significant for us, indigenous people, because it brings the voice of the organized indigenous movement”, explained the curator. In this exhibition, for example, there will be a video with an important speech by Ailton Krenak at the 1987 Constituent Assembly, in which he defends indigenous peoples.

The exhibition, made in collaboration with the Kode Bergen Art Museum, will occupy the galleries on the first floor and second basement of the museum and will run until February 25th.

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