From the “representation of leftovers” to “reanthropophagy”: Indigenous peoples and contemporary art in Brazil

Abstract

Anthropology and Art History have recently broaden their conceptual frameworks and their geographical and temporal scope, increasing the interfaces between them. Departing from an interdisciplinary perspective, this article discuss artworks and events that have flourished in Brazil since 2015, in which indigenous issues and indigenous visual and creative repertoires have penetrated into the Western art system. Based on field research and catalog analysis, we discuss the exhibitions The fall of the sky (2015), From the earth, the stone and from Here (2015), Adornments of indigenous Brazil. Contemporary resistances (2017), (again)Anthropophagy (2019) and Vaievem (2019) among others; as well as works by indigenous artists Denilson Baniwa, Jaider Esbell, Daiara Tukano, Ibã Huni Kuin and Gustavo Caboco among others are presented and analysed here. Conclusions point to the importance of the art world in the struggle for visibility of indigenous peoples, both politically and aesthetically. On the other hand, they suggest that there is a great distance between Western and Amerindian universes and that translations remain a big challenge.