A major exhibition foregrounds Amazonian creation myths, contemporary voices, and ecological knowledge
© Paulo Desana
The musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac presents ‘Amazônia: Creations and Indigenous Futures’, a landmark exhibition that gives prominence to the perspectives of Indigenous peoples from the Amazon. Moving beyond stereotypes of the rainforest as an untouched wilderness, the exhibition offers a new lens through which to view Amazonia: as a dynamic, contemporary region shaped by cultural resilience, ancestral knowledge, and artistic innovation.
Organised through collaborative curatorship, ‘Amazônia’ brings together a vast array of works: from ritual masks, plumage ornaments, and oral traditions to contemporary installations and paintings by artists such as Rember Yahuarcani, Carlos Jacanamijoy, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Joseca Mokahesi, Uýra Sodoma, and Zahy Tentehar. Their works engage with themes of ecology, spirituality, and futurity, while placing Amazonian cosmologies at the centre of conversations about the global environmental crisis.
The exhibition unfolds across several thematic sections. Creation myths from the Iny Karajá and Rio Negro peoples frame the narrative, situating humanity as part of an ongoing cycle of transformation rather than as a fixed origin. Another section explores the creation of the human being through rites of passage, body painting, funerary traditions, and oral histories, accompanied by striking photographs by Iano Mac Yawalapiti and an in situ intervention by Clarisse Taulewali.
Visitors encounter the Amazonian understanding of relational worlds, where humans, animals, plants, and spirits share a sense of personhood and agency. Works such as Brus Rubio Churay’s triptych on Bora spiritual relations and ritual effigies bring these ideas into vivid focus. Other displays highlight ecological knowledge, blending empirical observation with dreams and visions, underscoring how Indigenous practices anticipate and adapt to challenges such as climate change.
A final section turns towards futures, celebrating the resilience of Amazonian cultures despite colonial violence and ongoing threats to their lands. Here, contemporary voices like Rember Yahuarcani confront environmental destruction, while performances and installations by Uýra Sodoma and Zahy Tentehar embody acts of renewal and transformation. The inclusion of rare objects from “isolated” peoples, on loan from Brazil, underscores the exhibition’s breadth and urgency.
The exhibition is on view from 30 September 2025 to 18 January 2026 at the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris. For more information, please visit quaibranly.fr.
