A paradise threatened by greed

Rember Yahuarcani, Aquells altres mons (díptic), acrílic sobre llenç, 2024. Cortesia de l'artista. © Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

One of the historical events underpinning the extraordinary exhibition Amazons. The Ancestral Future, on display until 4 May at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), is the incursion of “civilisation” into the Amazon rainforest. Understood from a Western perspective, this civilisation established an antagonistic, if not outright destructive, relationship with the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, a reality that can be felt throughout the installations and spaces of the CCCB exhibition. The first step in this process was the expedition of Francisco de Orellana, launched in 1541.

Francisco de Orellana was in search of the land of cinnamon and, along the way, the fabled city of El Dorado, brimming with riches. Civilisation was already promising. But in reality, El Dorado was everything around the explorers: towering trees, seductive scents, indescribable sounds and silences, blue parrots, pink dolphins, red frogs, the universe’s full palette of colours and a human multiculturalism to match. Indeed, the Amazon rainforest is a melting pot of remarkable natural and cultural diversity, where, for thousands of years, its inhabitants have forged a relationship with their environment in which gathering, hunting and farming did not harm biodiversity; on the contrary. The Amazon was a vast Edenic garden, not the virtually uninhabited virgin jungle as it was falsely portrayed, as recent research has revealed.

Nature is integral to all aspects of life for the Amazonian peoples, existing in an ecosystemic balance that governs the relationship between humans and the cosmos. This connection is revealed and interpreted by the shaman through colourful visions, accompanied by chants and fuelled by the ritual use of hallucinogens such as ayahuasca, all within a traditional building known as a maloka, the place of storytelling. In the “Message of the Roots” section of the exhibition, visitors can see a maloka constructed on-site by a maloquero using original materials.

Luiz Braga, A Preferida, 1985. Courtesy of the artist. © Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona Luiz Braga, A Preferida, 1985. Courtesy of the artist. © Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

The section “A Tree Made of Water” presents a collection of different Amazons, which today form a complex and multifaceted reality, much like a tree with many branches “that goes beyond the diversity of indigenous peoples”, as the exhibition’s curator, Claudi Carreras, puts it. Alongside the languages spoken by Amazonian Amerindians, many of which are endangered, the exhibition also showcases cultural expressions from Afro-descendants and settlers who, in one way or another, have chosen integration and resistance to a homogenising economic and cultural agenda. Particularly striking are the olfactory installation, with scents that evoke various aspects of the Amazonian world, and the acoustic installation, which recreates the soundscapes of the jungle.

A rainforest in peril

The harmonious balance between humans and nature, established by the Amazonian peoples, has been shattered by the extractive greed of colonisation and consumerism, driven by an insatiable appetite for natural resources seen as infinite. This devastating reality is reflected in an extensive collection of images, historical documents and interviews in the section “Voracious Bounties”, which serves as a museum of environmental horrors, including the haunting and silent testimony of real samples of charred Amazonian trees.

Lalo de Almeida, Protest of the Munduruku in Belo Monte, 2013. Courtesy of the artist. © Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona Lalo de Almeida, Protest of the Munduruku in Belo Monte, 2013. Courtesy of the artist. © Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

The Amazon is in danger, disappearing, and being systematically destroyed by greed. As a result, an entire network of ecological relationships essential to life is also being lost. This vital web is brought to the fore in the works of Olinda Silvano and Cordelia Sánchez, where a powerful connection between nature and art is established. Their pieces serve as contributions to the fight against destruction. Humans are not separate from the natural world; we are an integral part of it. This is reflected in the murals of the MAHKU collective, which depict the chants and visions of ayahuasca ceremonies, where, like in a dream, the threads of human unity with the whole are revealed. The future of the Amazon, the conservation of biodiversity and the future of our planet depend on heeding this ancestral wisdom.

Amazons. The Ancestral Future

Until 4 May 2025 at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

Curated by Claudi Carreras. With the collaboration of local experts Jõao Paulo Lima Barreto, Eliane Brum, Emilio Fiagama, Lilian Fraiji, Valério Gomes, Nelly Kuiru, Eduardo Góes Neves, Daiara Tukano, Rember Yahuarcani and Joseph Zárate.

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