A series of digital collages (still nameless) that apply the concept of indigenous futurism is among the works of the Art with Indigenous Art in Electronic Residences (AIRE) project
The series is composed by collages that gather cultural elements of the ethnicities of the artists involved: Kaingang (Brazil), Desana (Brazil), Xucuru (Brazil) and Shiraigo Mocoví (Argentina). The digital collages present dialogues between different generations, bringing the idea of unity between peoples, individuals and nature. The artists involved in the creation of this work are Kadu Xucuru, Tadeu dos Santos Kaingang, Carina Desana and Shiraigo Mocoví.
Photographer, designer and visual artist Kadu Xucuru explains about the technical process of creation that challenges temporality. "We used the concept of Indigenous Futurism, a movement consisting of art, literature, comics, music and other forms of indigenous expression and perspectives of the future, past and present. What stands out in this movement is that it is based on the idealisation of a future in which we, original peoples, are alive and are protagonists of our stories."
About the concept of the work immersed in this context of virtual encounters, Xucuru reveals "that taking into account that in this residence we are separated geographically, united only by the virtual web. We are producing a series of three digital collages that propose to bring our own bodies or the bodies that constitute us to this universe, where we are all united and all these cosmovisions occupy the same space, an Earth without evil".
The artist Tadeu Kaingang explains that during the co-creation process the group of artists considers the experience of each one in its diversity, thinking about the issue of geographical field (territory) each one in its specificity. "We managed to bring together the cosmology of each people, but also bring a proximity of the meaning that is common, we approached the four elements (earth, air, fire and air) and we are using the issue of air that surrounds us which articulates with AIRE".
Kaingang remembering the experience of the digital bonfires (meeting that occurs between the artists involved in the project via the Zoom platform) comments that the artist Nhenety Kariri-Xocó said "that the technologies are translations, because they have always existed, even what has not yet been named, so I find it interesting to think that everything already exists, it is very nice to hear the meetings in the electronic bonfire that brings ways of thinking the indigenous philosophy very different from what we are used to".
The artist Carina Desana explains that AIRE "confirms our thoughts with different voices in space and time, with relatives who idealise and use art as a tool to face the barriers that society imposes on us! To be AIRE is to feel invigorated, where I can fill my panier (traditional basket that carries sustenance) with concrete and spiritual goals! It is linked by the virtual connection, but being and feeling alongside the relatives who are part of this story. It means being present beyond the screens, feeling the same pain or emotions!".
text Dayanne Pereira/ translation MZF