Mahku Amazon, b. 2013

Created in 2012, the MAHKU (Huni Kuin Artists' Movement) is a collective of artists from the Huni Kuin Indigenous people, traditional inhabitants of the western Amazon region in the state of Acre, Brazil.

For thousands of years, the life and culture of the Huni Kuin have been defined by symbiotic relationships with the complex ecosystem surrounding them. However, the commercialization of rubber in the late 19th century marked the beginning of a process of exclusion, displacement, and systematic exploitation of the Huni Kuin's lands and bodies, which continues to this day.

Huni Kuin resistance and the defense of the Amazon rainforest are closely tied to the preservation of Huni Kuin cultural traditions, in which art, music, and collective songs play an essential role. Painting, the primary artistic expression of MAHKU, emerged from the need to revive collective knowledge that was on the verge of disappearing.