Brazil: Exhibition celebrates Indigenous Kayapó people

Brazilian Indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire attended Saturday (Oct. 28) the opening of an exhibition dedicated to his people the Kayapó.

A group of young Kayapó curated the exhibition as they visited five indigenous lands to produce over 100 photographs shown at the Niteroi Museum.

“I’m here to say that we all have a duty to make our voices heard in order not to destroy the forests. So I ask everyone who is here to be unite in fighting for the preservation of nature,” he said.

The exhibit also includes unpublished videos and pieces of handicraft that will tell the story of the Kayapó people since their contact with the whites.

The “Mekukradjá Obikàrà with Feet in Two Worlds” exhibit at the museum of Modern Art, just outside Rio de Janeiro.

The expression Mekukradjá Obikàrà describes the blending of Kayapó traditions and elements from other cultures, such as technology.

The Kayapo people mainly live in the southeastern Amazon region of Brazil. They have fought long battle to protect their homeland and maintain legal control over it.

In the exhibition, the indigenous people “straddle two worlds” and delve into this relationship between the past, present, and future of the tribe.

“I think that’s what this exhibition is all about, this representation of purpose, of joy, of festivals, of culture. Most of the time, Indigenous people have been represented in a way as if they needed assistance and were always fragile,” Manoela, visitor to exhibition.

The exhibit is part of the Tradition and Future in the Amazon (TFA) project sponsored by the Petrobras Socio-Environmental Programme and managed by the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund. Petrobras is a state-owned multinational corporation in the petroleum industry.

It will run until November 26.