International research collaboration leads to indigenous art exhibition

The exhibition, The Iny͂ People of Central Brazil, arises from a research collaboration in the field of indigenous language revitalisation, a multi-year project between staff at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Department of Letters at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the Museu do Índio.

The theme is the life and culture of Inȳ people in central Brazil, portrayed through ceramics and film. Many of the pieces will also be up for sale. Staff from the Museu do Índio in Rio de Janeiro liaised with the community, and through an agreement between local artists and the three institutions involved, a collection of pieces was acquired directly from the community artists.

The exhibition was curated by Dr Chang Whan from the Museu do Índio. Her work with the Karajá community through the years, particularly with the women ceramists, led to the acquisition of the collection by Massey University and Te Manawa. Her own photographs and videos are part of the exhibition.

The School of Humanities, Media and Creative Communication has been collaborating with these institutions on several projects, including the development of Massey’s Portuguese Programme.

In 2019, staff from the university’s Linguistics Programme and Te Pūtahi-a-Toi attended a conference co-organised by both universities in Rio de Janeiro. A group of students from Massey’s Portuguese Programme also attended a seminar on indigenous languages at the Museu do Indio as part of the Prime Minister’s Scholarship for Latin America immersion programme in the same year.

Brazilian Ambassador Mr Marcos de Souza Campos says he was very happy to hear that the Te Manawa’s exhibition will help make Karajá culture known in Aotearoa.

The exhibition will remain open until 9 October.