The process of conceiving the medium and long-term exhibitions at the Museum of Indigenous Cultures is developed in a participatory way, with indigenous individuals from different ethnicities taking the lead through their collective organizations, using an autonarrative perspective.
The MCI has a Curatorial Committee composed of indigenous artists from various ethnicities. The temporary exhibitions aim to establish dialogues and delve deeper into the issues addressed in the long-term exhibition. The traveling exhibitions are intended to encompass indigenous and non-indigenous museological institutions, as well as cultural institutions and public spaces.
The production and installation of the exhibitions allow for the collaboration of researchers and indigenous professionals, as well as the support of expert consultants from various fields.
Decolonizes SP Indigenous Land
The external areas of the MCI have been appropriated through a process of architectural naturalization of the building and adjacent areas. The concept is for the visitor’s experience to begin even before entering the museum grounds, which includes the Guarani graphics installed on the fence, the paintings on the side walls, the Guarani graphics on the reception facade, among other artistic interventions, such as the one on the left side of the MCI headquarters building, created by the artist Tamikuã Txihi.
Ygapó Terra Firme (Dry Land)
For the inauguration of the Museum of Indigenous Cultures, the artist and curator Denilson Baniwa presented the exhibition “Ygapó: Terra Firme.” Occupying two floors of the museum, the exhibition is an invitation to explore the forests and urban spaces through sensory experiences. At one moment, the exhibition showcases a selection of videos by contemporary indigenous artists that reference the cultural presence of indigenous peoples by breaking stereotypes that confine them to a distant past or the remote regions of the Amazon rainforest. In a second moment, the exhibition provides a sensory experience reminiscent of the Guarani prayer house, fostering introspection and listening to silence, and offering a space for personal encounters and exchanges.
Nhe’ẽ ry: where spirits bathe
Nhe’ẽ ry is a way of understanding the dimension of the forest, a sanctuary that can transform into a portal. It can be translated as “where spirits bathe,” purifying themselves to achieve divine elevation, integrating the cosmological world to attain spiritual lightness and eternal life – in the Guarani conception, the Yvy Marae’ỹ. Nhe’ẽ ry is the foundation of existence and resistance for the indigenous peoples who inhabit it, as it is in the living forest that the healing remedies and the true school reside: the transmission of ancestral knowledge and practices.
MYMBA`I, asking permission from the Spirits, dialoguing with the Atlantic Forest
Mymba’i, a sacred word in Guarani, can be understood as a request for permission from ancestral beings and animal spirits who take care of all beings in the forests.
The exhibition proposes that we reflect on the destructive impacts of human actions, as well as the urgency of caring for and recovering Mother and Sister Nature. It is a call to get to know and learn from the indigenous native peoples. It is about listening, feeling, respecting, dialoguing, and caring to build a history of recovery and strengthening of our ancestral memories, of Mother Sister Nature.
