Grandpa River, Mother Mountain, 2022

Featured at the group exhibition The Transformative Power of the Anthropocene, NYUAD Project Space, 2022

Part 1: Takukrak, 2022, 210mm x 297mm, ink and watercolor on paper

Part II: Watu (Died), 2022, 297 x 420 mm, acrylic, charcoal, and watercolor on paper

Part III: Metamorphosis, 2022, 420 x 594 mm, ink, thread and watercolor on paper

In this work, divided in three acts, I challenge the false dichotomy between “nature” and “human”, arguing that the failure to recognize our necessary interconnectedness will only speed up the irreparable damages of the Anthropocene. My main inspiration were the ideas of Ailton Krenak, a prominent indigenous activist from Brazil. In a context of unsettling climate and social crises, how and what can we learn from the native people who, as Krenak said, have been dealing with the end of their world for 500 years?

The Krenak were deeply affected when, in 2015, a dam from the company Vale collapsed, released a toxic mud that killed 270 people, displaced thousands of families, and completely disrupted ecosystems in the region. The avoidable incident also polluted the most important life source for the Krenak, the Doce River, or Watu. In their words: “We live one day at a time. The river was a fortress to engage in culture, and today that’s not possible anymore. We used to hunt, which is the sacred ritual, with the elderly at the islands of the Watu. In the same way that the Doce River died, our culture is also dying.”

As I acknowledge my inability to speak for any indigenous population, this work is based on more questions than answers. I hope to share my process of rediscovering not only what it means to be human but, most importantly, what it means to be part of our planet.

Referenced works: Ideas to Postpone the End of the World (2020) and Life Is Not Useful (2020) by Ailton Krenak.