“We know and walk together:” Contemporary Indigenous Art in Brazil

In this talk on Wednesday, Oct. 20, UNICAMP Associate Professor Claudia Mattos Avolese will discuss the art exhibitions below and the work of some of the indigenous artists represented in them, thinking of how it has brought changes in local curatorial and museological practices, contributing to the growing presence of indigenous production in the Brazilian and international art scene. This event will be held in Portuguese with simultaneous English translation. This discussion with Naine Terena, artist, art educator and professor at Catholic University in Mato Grosso do Sul, will be moderated by Ana Laura Malmaceda, a PhD student in romance languages at Harvard University.

One of the most exciting developments in Brazilian art and art history today is the emergence of Indigenous self-representation. The growing presence of Indigenous artists and art curators in exhibitions and museums in the country challenges traditional narratives and modes of display as it generates new spaces for the silenced voices of the over three-hundred Indigenous ethnic groups that inhabit the territories of Brazil. In 2017, the Rio de Janeiro Museum (MAR) organized the exhibition Dja Guata Porã (To walk together well), co-curated by the Guarani-Nhandewa Sandra Benites, who now is part of the curatorial staff of the upcoming Indigenous Histories exhibition at the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP). In October 2020 the Pinacoteca de São Paulo opened the exhibition Véxoa: we know, curated by Naine Terena. These events were important landmarks in the process of acknowledging the presence and value of Indigenous artists within the Brazilian contemporary art world.

This virtual event is presented by the Brazil Studies Program of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University in collaboration with the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology.