Mapu Huni Kuin

Moderation: Luisa Lobo and Marissa Lobo. Organized by the Institute of Art Theory and Cultural Studies and the Studio for Post-conceptual Art Practices in collaboration with Marissa Lobo.

Mapu Huni Kuin leads a cultural center project named Huwã Karu Yuxibu. His work aims to rescue and strength the Huni Kuin cultural identity among socially vulnerable indigenous people living outside their lands, attracted by the idea of non-indigenous way of life. The Huwã Karu Yuxibu Center that was established in August 2015 promotes actions such as farming, permaculture, bio-construction, research of traditional medicines, family interaction and knowledge exchange between indigenous and non-indigenous people among others. The center have been weaving a living network of exchange and sharing, and it’s the housing space for indigenous families and young people who leave their villages to study in the capital city of Rio Branco. The financing of such projects are made independently of governmental support. Brazil’s right-wing President-elect Jair Bolsonaro sees indigenous people and their lands as a threat to the country’s progress. He already stated that he will deny new land claims by indigenous people and favors opening their land to commercial mining and farming. A war was declared on Brazil’s Indigenous people. Mapu’s project is one among the many ways in which resistance takes place in Brazil.