Moquém_Surarî: an exhibition of contemporary indigenous art at the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo

Abstract

This paper aims to present the curatorial conception process of the exhibition Moquém_Surarî: contemporary indigenous art, organized by Jaider Esbell, Makuxi artist and curator, at the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo in 2021. Starting from the pandon of Surarî, the ancient history of Moquém, and from the analysis of some of the works presented in the exhibition, we reconstruct the curatorial arguments that organized it: shamanism and community festivals understood as traditional forms of indigenous art, the history of resistance centuries of the originary peoples in defense of their territories, the interfaces between indigenous artistic productions and their art-education actions, and finally the "affective alliances" and the "txaism" as forms of creation and sharing between those who are different between themselves.