Kaya Agari Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brasil, b. 1986

Kaya Agari, an artist born in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, dedicates her visual research to the graphic designs and the material and immaterial branches of her people's culture, the Kurâ-Bakairi. Among Agari's main sources of inspiration are her community's folkloric graphics. Body painting, known as Kywenu, is passed down by elders: from women to girls and from men to boys. There are exclusive Kywenu patterns for women, men, and children. Rooted in nature, these designs of shapes and lines, differentiated from one another, reflect distinct social roles.

Agari is a co-organizer of the Yukamaniru Institute to Support Kurâ-Bakairi Indigenous Women, established in 2008 to encourage leadership and social inclusion among these women. The institute organizes and carries out initiatives to promote the knowledge of culture, designs, and body paintings of Kurâ-Bakairi women and youth. As a champion of preserving this knowledge, Agari organized the 2015 exhibition Kurâ-Bakairi: Yakuigady and Kywenu at the Museum of Art of Mato Grosso, showcasing paintings created by women and children from the Bakairi village, alongside photographs, paintings, and other objects produced by artists from this community.

Kaya has also exhibited at the Mato Grosso Indigenous Book Fair (FLIMT) in 2010 and 2013. She participated in the exhibition ¡Mira! Contemporary Visual Arts of Indigenous Peoples at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), which toured Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. In 2017, she joined the Visual Virtual research group, a Kurâ-Bakairi initiative. She also participated in the group exhibition Véxoa: Nós Sabemos at the São Paulo Pinacoteca in 2021. That same year, a new work by Agari was selected for the reformulation of the Street Art Museum in São Paulo, curated by Hélio Menezes.