Amazonie Immersive WIPO

Event celebrates the centenary of the Modern Art Week and the bicentennial of Independence with a tribute to Brazilian ancestral wealth; artist promotes actions and launches unprecedented collection

The artist, designer, researcher and founder of Yankatu, Maria Fernanda Paes de Barros, has always traveled through the collective unconscious of our origins to express her artistic vocation. This voice permeated her existence and now echoes in different directions, leaving in each space it occupies her primary purpose: to reverberate the ancestral culture of Brazil.

This work is now taking place in more distant regions. In an important year for Brazil – Centenary of the Week of Modern Art of 1922 and Bicentennial of the Proclamation of Independence – between the 19th and 23rd of September, the Amazonia Imersiva event takes place in Geneva, Switzerland, honoring the centenary of the Modern Week, making a counterpoint to the historical moment of Brazilian art, offering what Brazil has that is most genuine and authentic. The event brings together exhibitions, workshops, interactive projections, tastings and talks by Brazilian artists – among them Arassari Pataxó, Renato Soares, Thiago Ishiyama and Frans Krajceberg – who rescue the ancestry of native peoples and aim to support different initiatives in the Amazon and in other environmentally protected areas in Brazil. This edition counts with the special participation of the Brazilian mission to the UN, an important seal for the initiative.

Maria Fernanda was invited for the second time by the organization of the event, and is one of the honored guests of the event. For this edition, the artist prepared several actions. On the first day, the 19th, there will be the presentation of the visual identity of the event, created by the artist and indigenous leader Arassari Pataxó, when the symbology and meaning of the logo will be explained. On the 20th, the artist presents the theme “Ancestry: (re)encounter and transformation”, where she talks about her journey, the importance of ancestry and cultural rescue, her encounter with various indigenous peoples and her reunion with her essence and the transformation that occurs from that contact. In this first conversation, Maria Fernanda brings the speech of Arassari Pataxó, who tells about the encounter of the first Portuguese settlers with the Pataxó people, in Monte Pascoal, Bahia, and the transformations that occur after that event.

On the 21st, Maria Fernanda talks about the theme “Art at the service of humanity”, and this time talks about her artistic works that were born from the encounter with the Pataxó people, the doors it opens, the benefits that it generates and its reverberations through the world. On the 22nd, there will be a cultural immersion on the Pataxó mythology, told by the people of the Barra Velha village, with their tales and legends. And on the 23rd, there will be a sharing of the culture of the Pataxó people, through dance, songs and other activities.

Maria Fernanda will also launch an unprecedented collection on the occasion. The Kulá Collection derives from the Kulá public waste bins, launched at the beginning of the year, and now has a stool, side table, bag and mini-dumpster/trinket holder. Made of recycled plastic, the pieces receive necklaces produced by artisans from the Mehinako indigenous people. “As the contact of the Mehinako people with the white man’s world is relatively recent, some women still have difficulties in reading this new universe, both culturally and because of the mastery of language and writing, which sometimes creates obstacles in the commercialization of their handicrafts. “, explains Maria Fernanda. “The Kulá project, which means beads in Aruak, their native language, intends to generate commercial and financial autonomy for the women of the Kaupüna village, on the Upper Xingu, valuing their knowledge and traditions”.

Another important Amazonia Imersiva initiative in Geneva is to raise sponsorship for the Productive Backyard project, created by Arassari Pataxó, which aims to regenerate the soil in Pataxó territory based on syntropic agriculture, with the development of productive backyards, generating a closer relationship between indigenous people and what is being cultivated. “With the project, we want not only to regenerate the soil, the humidity, the rainfall regime, but also the social texture, which is already worn out with so much exploitation”, comments Arassari Pataxó. The agroforestry regime, carried out in the backyards of each Pataxó family in the village of Barra Velha, will bring productivity and autonomy to the community, and may be extended to other villages.

Service

Amazonia Imersiva – Modern Art Week

Date – September 19th to 23rd

Location – World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO –

Chem. des Colombettes 34, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland

https://mariafernandapaesdebarros.com.br/

www.decobresil.fr