ArtRio

For ArtRio 2024, we present works by artists connected to the dynamics of resistance, ancestry, and Brazilian cultural heritage. With a tradition that is both collective and familial, indigenous artists acquire and share their knowledge across generations. This is the case for MAHKU - Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin, who, from parent to child, dedicate themselves to keeping the myths of their people and the Huni Meka chants alive, translating them into paintings. When sold, MAHKU’s canvases are used to fund the purchase and restoration of land in the Amazon rainforest, thereby keeping the forest alive. "Sell painting, buy land" - MAHKU.

Kássia Borges is an artist from the Karajá ethnicity. To be a Karajá woman is synonymous with being a ceramicist, as this practice is traditionally passed down from mother to daughter. The series of totems presented by the artist evokes the female body, in constructions that resonate with what her Karajá woman’s body produces in its relation to others.

Kaya Agari is an artist from the Kurã-Bakairi ethnicity. Among the main sources of inspiration for her work are the graphic patterns of her people and their body paintings, known as Kywenu, which are taught by elders—from women to girls and men to boys. These paintings replicate animal patterns that symbolize protection, strength, and other characteristics embodied from animals, revealing the interconnected coexistence between humanity and animality from an indigenous perspective.