The “Body and Nature” workshop goes through an epistemological construction typical of an Amazonian society, inviting participants to experiment with multiple forms of presence: sometimes body-instrument, sometimes collective vessel, sometimes support for artistic, symbolic and communicative intervention with nature through the discovery of painting.
Guided by the Amerindian perspective, this workshop proposes a practice and reflection on the role of art in strengthening bodies in Huni Kuin society. When children are born, for example, they are painted with ink extracted from the jenipapo tree, so that the chants can penetrate their skin and consolidate their vitality - one of many rites that intertwine worlds and support a non-dualistic view of life.
After the two days of sharing, the training culminates with a ritual performance by Katxa Nawa, who brings together dance, song and movement in a participatory practice that evokes fertility and potency for humans, plants and animals.
Zenira Neshane Huni Kuin
Zenira Neshane is the daughter of Maria Sabino Huni Kuin and Sabino Ixã Huni Kuin, two important leaders of the Huni Kuin people. From an early age, Neshane learned from her mother about handicrafts, graphics, cooking and women’s knowledge within the tradition of her people. As well as being a teacher and artisan, she is one of the few Huni Kuin women recognized as a “shaman”, as she carries a lot of knowledge about the traditional medicine practices of her people. Neshane is also a forerunner of the Huni Kuin feminist movement, being one of the first women from her indigenous land to leave the territory, leading workshops and cultural exchange activities in different states in Brazil and abroad.
Sabino Dua Ixã
Sabino Dua Ixã is a Huni Kuin elder who acts as a political and spiritual leader. He lived and worked in the rubber plantations, actively participated in the struggle for the right to demarcate his land and studied with great shamans to become one of the greatest masters of the Huni Meka (ceremonial songs) of the Huni Kuin people. Sabino lives with his entire family in one of the most distant villages on the Upper Rio Jordão, where very few consumer goods arrive from the city and where deep communication with the territory is maintained.
Txaná Nixiwaka
Txaná Nixiwaka Huni Kuin is from a young generation of Txanás, or shaman artists, from the village furthest from the Jordan River. Since childhood, he has dedicated himself to the study of traditional song, painting and drawings related to the tradition of his people. He is married to one of the granddaughters of Sabino Dua Ixã, whose pupil he is, and was invited by him to leave his village for the first time to represent his community.
