here: indigenous amazonian artists fight covid-19 and inequalities - Rember Yahuarcani, Santiago Yahuarcani and Harry Pinedo, peru

We Amazonian peoples are suffering from the the impact of Covid-19 as well as from a long history of oppression and negligence from our governments, which have never seriously recognised indigenous people as citizens with rights. Yet we have learnt to find ways to respond to adversity and this time our combined voices resound louder.

Through the combination of written media reports, paintings and an exhibition, HERE: Indigenous Amazonian Artists Fighting COVID-19 and Inequalities seeks to document in real time and by indigenous artists and activists how Covid-19 impacts the life of Peru’s Amazonian native and urban communities, the governmental responses, and indigenous strategies for survival. Strategies such as the return of indigenous people to cultivate our lands and the shamans’ efforts to find medicinal plants in the forest and discover new treatments. ‘Here’ stresses our presence, our right to life, and the right to defend our way of life.

This project is based on a collaboration between the Uitoto artist and activist Rember Yahuarcani, the Uitoto artist and community leader Santiago Yahuarcani, and the Shipibo artist and intercultural teacher Harry Pinedo.

This project also includes the collaboration and support of Giuliana Borea’s Marie Curie project ‘Conquering Self-Representation: A collaborative approach to the political aesthetical dimension of Amazonian Art’ at the University of Essex.

Exhibition: Ite! / neno! / HERE! responses to covid-19

Artwork

Harry Pinedo / Inin Metsa

Santiago Yahuarcani