Indigenous Contemporary Art from Brazil
Artefato Gallery is committed to showcase Brazilian indigenous artists that, rather than being seen as living in a different timeframe, are very much placed and doing their practices in the contemporaneity. This enables to enrich, widen and decolonise the perception of what Brazilian art encompasses. We are proud and humbled to offer those artists exclusively for the international audience.
Denilson Baniwa
Denilson Baniwa, 35, was born in Mariuá, in Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil. The cultural references of his people are the starting point to this path to becoming an artist.
At very young age, the artist began his career in the struggle for the rights of indigenous peoples and moved through, back and forth, in the non-indigenous universe, gathering references that would strengthen the stage of this resistance.
Denilson Baniwa is an anthropophagous artist, as he appropriates Western languages to decolonize them in his work.
His contemporary production consolidates himself as a reference, breaking paradigms and opening paths to of the indigenous people as key players in the national territory.
Instituto Kabu - Kayapó Women's Artisans Cooperative
Instituto Kabu works with 11 traditional communities at Baú and Mekrãgnotire Indigenous Lands in Pará Brazil developing various projects to help those traditional communities find ways to improve their lives in a sustainable way.
The Women's Artisans Cooperative is one of these project who utilise the amazing traditional craftsmanship from Kayapó women in order to improve both their lives and their kids', mantaining their traditional way of living and passing on their knowledge to the next generations of Kayapó women.
We are bringing their traditional body painting - which is made by women in those communities - applied to fabric. Different patterns are painted on different people for different ceremonies or activities and they resemble animals, plants and everything that surrounds them.
All paintings are made on demand and they might have slight modifications on the final job, making each artwork unique.