At this year's Venice Biennale, representatives from Brazil will shine a light on the indigenous peoples of their territory, once brought to the brink of extinction by colonial rule and who are now fighting to recover what was taken from them.
The mission begins with the name of the exhibition site, which was renamed from the Brazilian Pavilion to the Hãhãwpuá Pavilion – a reference to the Pataxó people's word for the territory before it was colonized by the Portuguese. The artist and activist Glicéria Tupinambá was chosen to take over, but her work is not the only one that will be on display. Artists Olinda Tupinambá and Ziel Karapotó also have planned contributions.
For Denilson Baniwa, Arissana Pataxó and Gustavo Caboco Wapichana – the three curators of the Hãhãwpuá Pavilion – a community approach was fundamental to the message.
“The exhibition brings together the Tupinambá Community and artists from coastal peoples – the first to be transformed into foreigners in their own Hãhãw (ancestral territory) – to express a different perspective on the vast territory where more than 300 indigenous peoples (Hãhãwpuá) live” , the trustees said in a joint written statement.
For them, the Hãhãwpuá Pavilion “tells a story of indigenous resistance in Brazil, of the strength of the body present in retaking the territory and adapting to climate emergencies”.
“Ka'a Pûera: we are walking birds” is the name of the exhibition planned for the pavilion – and it also says a lot about how the curators are thinking about their Venice project. The key phrase, Ka'a Pûera, is a portmanteau that suggests dual allusions: first, to a type of agricultural land that, once harvested, produces a wave of low vegetation; and second, to a small bird that skillfully camouflages itself in dense forests.
Both images reflect the Tupinambá, considered extinct until 2002, when they were finally recognized by the Brazilian State. In this sense, the Tupinambá are at once resurgent birds and farmlands: almost erased but never disappeared, powerful in their ability to blend in, more powerful when they demand not to.
Source: Artnet News