Nhandepa, the exhibition
Nhandepa combines Nhanderu, a Guarani divinity, with Epa Kuxipa, a Huni Kuin one. The name is an argument: that different indigenous groups need to recognise one another and work together.
The exhibition ran at the Museum of Image and Sound in São Paulo, curated by Milton Guran and Monica Maia. The artists were Danilo Arenas, showing photographs from his 2016 immersion with the Huni Kuin, and Same Putumi and Vanessa Rosa, who made the immersive installation.
Our reference was Paulus Gerdes’s book The Circle and the Square, a catalogue of weaving patterns from five continents. Same Putumi chose five patterns, found among groups in Southeast Asia and across Native American cultures. I made paintings merging those patterns with photographs Same had taken, then animated light over the paintings with projection mapping.
The infinity boxes, where the medicinal leaves Same had brought from the Envira were displayed, were co-designed with the architect Verônica Natividade. The paintings, the projection and the rest of the installation are mine and Same’s.
Nhandepa, the installation at MIS São Paulo.
The entrance wall
The five chosen patterns, set out as a wall of symbols before you enter the dark.
The installation
Paintings under projection, so the pattern moves. In the dark the surface stops behaving like a painting and starts behaving like a forest at night.
The paintings, with the lights on
Without the projection the room is black and white: botanical drawing, the five woven patterns, and Same among the leaves. This is the surface the light was played over.
The infinity boxes
Medicinal leaves brought from the Envira, held in mirrored boxes that have no end. Co-designed with Verônica Natividade.
Curators: Milton Guran and Monica Maia. Artists: Danilo Arenas; Same Putumi and Vanessa Rosa. Infinity boxes: co-designed by Vanessa Rosa and Verônica Natividade. Museum of Image and Sound, São Paulo.