KAÁGUY RUPIGUA (Bichos do mato)
Artist
Paulo Nazareth
(Brazilian, born 1977)
Date2013
MediumInkjet prints
Edition 4/5 + 2 AP
Dimensions11 13/16 × 15 3/4 inches each (30 × 40 cm)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAcquired through the Nancy Horton Bartels, Class of 1948, Endowment
Terms
- Photographs
- Brazilian
Object number2021.012 a-k
Label CopyPaulo Nazareth’s multifaceted artistic practice is fundamentally about encounters, communication, and empathy. In this work, he begins to learn the language of the Guarani Kaiowá, whom he came to know as he studied his Indigenous genealogy. Kaáguy rupigua is their phrase for “wild animals” (bichos do mato in Portuguese, Nazareth’s mother tongue). Engaging with Guarani Kaiowá children, Nazareth drew animals that inhabit their land, in Matto Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and the children wrote the animals’ names in their language.The razed land in the photographs is at the heart of the struggles of the Guarani Kaiowá. Since the mid-twentieth century, their survival has been threatened by deforestation, expulsion, and state-sponsored violence. In April 2024, Brazil’s Amnesty Commission recognized the human rights abuses perpetrated against them, asked for forgiveness, and recommended that the Brazilian government recognize the demarcation of their ancestral territory.
—Kate Addleman-Frankel, the Gary and Ellen Davis Curator of Photography
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