Following acclaimed presentations at the Instituto Moreira Salles (São Paulo), the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (Paris), and the Barbican Centre (London), among other venues, the exhibition is expanded at The Shed to include more than 80 drawings and paintings by Yanomami artists André Taniki, Ehuana Yaira, Joseca Mokahesi, Orlando Nakɨ uxima, Poraco Hɨko, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, and Vital Warasi. Visitors will also encounter new video works by contemporary Yanomami filmmakers Aida Harika, Edmar Tokorino, Morzaniel Ɨramari, and Roseane Yariana.
Claudia Andujar was born in Switzerland in 1931 and raised in Transylvania before immigrating to New York City in 1946 after escaping the Holocaust. She first moved to Brazil in 1955, where she started a career as a photographer. For over five decades, Andujar has been collaborating with the Yanomami people in defense of their rights. The Yanomami Struggle tells the story of Andujar’s relationship with the Yanomami people during Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964 – 85), from their first encounter in 1971 to the transformation of her artistic practice into direct activism seven years later, when Andujar and other activists created the Commission for the Demarcation of the Yanomami Park (CCPY). Through the voice and guidance of shaman and leader Davi Kopenawa, the exhibition also narrates the Yanomami’s mythological origins and maps their cosmovision, politics, and social organization.
Since the 2000s, a new generation of Yanomami artists have begun producing and showcasing their work outside of the region, establishing a new perspective that is now incorporated into the exhibition. This multilayered story also includes the contributions of several other individuals and organizations, including Hutukara Associação Yanomami, Instituto Socioambiental, anthropologist Bruce Albert (Fondation Cartier’s consultant and co-author with shaman Davi Kopenawa of The Falling Sky), and Italian missionary Carlo Zacquini.
The Yanomami Struggle will be on view from February 3 to April 16, 2023 at The Shed, 545 West 30th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues in the Level 2 Gallery.
Please note: Face masks are optional but strongly encouraged while in The Shed. This policy is subject to change. Please email info@theshed.org or call (646) 455-3494 if you have questions.