Claudi Carreras Exhibition Brings the Amazon to Barcelona

Lalo de Almeida, Protesta dels munduruku a Belo Monte (2013). Courtesy of the artist.

By Sam Gaskin – 8 November 2024, Barcelona

Perhaps better known for its biodiversity, the Amazon is also culturally diverse; it’s home to some 400 indigenous peoples who speak over 300 different languages.

A new exhibition curated by Claudi Carreras at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona in Spain seeks to uncover the art and thinking—including ideas about sustainability—of Amazonian peoples.

Daiara Tukano, Ohpeko Pati, món de les aigües sagrades de la gran mare de l’univers (2023). Ink on paper. Courtesy Richard Saulton Gallery, London, Rome, New York, and Millan, São Paulo.

Curated by Claudi Carreras, Amazons. The Ancestral Future opens at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) from 13 November 2024 to 4 May 2025.

Featured works include murals painted on site by the Mahku Collective (Huni Kuin, Brazil), Elías Mamallacta (Kichwa, Ecuador), Olinda Silvano and Cordelia Sánchez (Shipibo-Conibo, Peru), and Rember Yahuarcani (Uitoto, Peru). Andrés Cardona (Colombia) will present photographs and audiovisual montages, and Nereyda López and Santiago Yahuarcani (Uitoto, Peru) will present a new installation.

Gê Viana, from the series ‘Paridade’ (2020). Primera capa: Neide Santos Cururupu, MA Photo; segona capa: dona guaycuru (Paraguai), 1843–1847. Photo montage. Courtesy of the artist.

The exhibition is divided into four sections.

The Message of the Roots contests the idea of the Amazon as virgin rainforest and instead presents it as a ‘great garden’ home to important ceremonial and medicinal plants, where interactions between living and spiritual beings are key.

Nereida López and Santiago Yahuarcani, Huangana (2023). Courtesy Galeria de Arte Crisis, Lima.

A Tree Made of Water considers the human diversity found along the almost 7,000 kilometre-length of the Amazon River, including both indigenous peoples and people of African descent.

Ravenous Bonanzas examines the history of extractivism that has led to deforestation, forced relocations of indigenous peoples, and violence against activists and communities who defend the territory.

Rember Yahuarcani, Aquells altres mons (díptic) (2024). Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.

We Are a Fabric shows the role dreams and hallucinogens play in communities connecting with ancestors and the spirits of the forest.

In a press release, the CCCB said, ‘this last section invites us to immerse ourselves in a ritual dream to understand that we are all part of the same fabric, and that the future of the Amazon is a common cause that concerns us all.’ —[O]

Main image: Lalo de Almeida, Protesta dels munduruku a Belo Monte (2013). Courtesy of the artist.

Sam Gaskin Sam Gaskin has covered contemporary art for over a decade, mostly from Shanghai, China.

Claudi Carreras Exhibition Brings the Amazon to Barcelona

Main image: Lalo de Almeida, Protesta dels munduruku a Belo Monte (2013). Courtesy of the artist.

Selected works