The Yanomami Struggle Public Programs:
Indigenous Rights, Art, and Environmental Justice
Daylong programs: February 4, March 4, April 8 & April 15
The Shed, New York
How are the rights of Indigenous people worldwide connected to environmental justice? How can art and activism contribute to struggles for Indigenous sovereignty and climate justice?
The exhibition The Yanomami Struggle at The Shed in New York told the story of the collaboration and friendship between artist and activist Claudia Andujar and the Yanomami people, one of the largest Indigenous groups living in Amazonia today.
In conjunction with the exhibition, there was a four-day series of events that offered a platform for Yanomami and Indigenous voices, while exploring the contexts and themes of the exhibition, from the fight for Indigenous rights and sovereignty to environmental justice and the connections between art and activism. Panel conversations and events featureed Yanomami and other Indigenous artists and community-builders, including academics, policy-makers, and representatives of community organizations.
Public programming for The Yanomami Struggle was organized by Chief Civic Program Officer Tamara McCaw and Sarah Khalid Dhobhany, Public Programs Assistant Producer, with Juana Berrío, Public Programs Consultant Curator, and George Emilio Sanchez, Community Engagement Advisor. Special thanks to American Indian Community House.
Visit The Shed website for more information.
Special thanks to all the artists and guests who were part of the programs, Valentina Tong (assistant curator) and Thyago Nogueira (Head of Contemporary Photography) from Instituto Moreira Salles (São Paulo, Brazil), the Fondation Cartier, the Brazilian NGOs Hutukara Associação Yanomami and Instituto Socioambiental, and The Shed’s team, especially Tamara McCaw, Sarah Khalid Dhobhany, Deja Belardo, Darren Biggart, George Sanchez, Andria Hickey and the three Education and Engagement Fellows Isabela Muci Barradas, Cat Guzman and Laura Carty.
Saturday, February 4
Davi Kopenawa, shaman and spokesperson for the Yanomami of Brazil and president of Hutukara Associação Yanomami, and Dário Kopenawa, vice president of Hutukara Associação Yanomami, addressed the audience on the current crisis facing the Yanomami people.
They were accompanied by Claudia Andujar, an artist with a lifelong commitment to the Yanomami, and the event includeed remarks by Thyago Nogueira, head of contemporary photography at the Instituto Moreira Salles, Brazil, and curator of The Yanomami Struggle.
Since the 2000s, a new generation of Yanomami artists have begun producing and showcasing their work outside of their territory. Their inclusion in the exhibition at The Shed establishes a new perspective on the themes and contexts of The Yanomami Struggle. Featured artists Ehuana Yaira, Joseca Mokahesi, and Morzaniel Ɨramari presented their works, moderated by Thyago Nogueira and Valentina Tong, assistant curator at the Instituto Moreira Salles.
Saturday, March 4
This program included an address by Mirian Masaquiza Jerez, Social Affairs Officer of the United Nations Secretariat, followed by artistic responses by poet, artist, and activist Cecilia Vicuña, musician and composer Laura Ortman, and singer and composer Jennifer Kreisberg. A closing reflection among the artists was facilitated by Candice Hopkins, Executive Director and Chief Curator at Forge Project.
Saturday, April 8
How are the rights of Indigenous people worldwide connected to environmental justice? How can art and activism contribute to struggles for Indigenous sovereignty? In partnership with Princeton University’s Brazil LAB, this event brought together two of the most prominent voices in the fight against climate change, Samara Pataxó and Txai Suruí, for a conversation moderated by João Biehl on their experiences and struggles in advocating for Indigenous rights in Brazil.
A Lenapehoking Anthology, recently published by the Lenape Center and the Brooklyn Public Library, explores the personal journeys and history of Lenape people working towards a return and presence of their ancestral homeland. The book discusses subjects like the myth of the purchase of Manhattan and the self-curation of Indigenous art and culture. The Lenape Center addressed the continual impacts of resource extraction, making connections between a history of extraction that began in 1609 in the Lenape homeland and the history of these harmful practices in Brazil that continues to this day in Yanomami territory. Contributors to the anthology read from their work and open the space for discussion.
Saturday, April 15
Artist George Emilio Sanchez staged a collective reading of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), an international resolution that addresses the foundational principles directly linked to the rights and the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples that have been attacked, erased, or diminished through European colonization. In solidarity with the Yanomami and Indigenous struggles globally, community members and exhibition visitors were invited to read the articles that recognize the right to self-determination, cultural preservation, and participation in decision-making processes that affect them.