Véxoa: We Know (Nós sabemos)

Véxoa: We Know is a survey exhibition of living Indigenous artist of Brazil developed by curator and educator Naine Terena (member of the Terena Indigenous people of the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso do Sul), that argues for new aesthetic criteria to reflect the contributions of Indigenous nations in today’s Brazil. Informed by the role of art as a tool for activism, the exhibition presents the work of 22 artists and collectives from regions throughout Brazil, and ranges from painting, drawing, and sculpture to video, performance, and sound installation. First presented at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo in 2020, Véxoa: We Know will have its only North American venue at Tufts University Art Galleries (TUAG), in Medford, Massachusetts, whose vicinity includes one of the largest diasporic Brazilian communities in the United States.

Véxoa, which means “we know” in the Terena language, reaffirms Indigenous agency and struggle for self-determination as well as Indigenous contributions to the richness and diversity of Brazilian visual culture. In so doing, it subverts persistent boundaries between art and artifact, traditional and modern, popular and high culture, declaring a new approach to art in Brazil that can embrace the diversity of Indigenous experience today.

Along with such internationally recognized artists as Denilson Baniwa, Jaider Esbell, and the collective MAHKU (Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin/Huni Kuin Artists’ Movement), the exhibition features artists who have emerged more recently in the contemporary art scene, like Gustavo Caboco, Yakunã Tuxá, and Tamikuã Txihi. Also included are artists dedicated to filmmaking, such as Olinda Muniz Tupinambá and the collective ASCURI (Associação Cultural dos Realizadores Indígenas/Cultural Association of Indigenous Filmmakers).

At TUAG, the project will be led by Naine Terena, Director of Education and Artistic Training in the Secretary of Training, Books and Reading in the Ministry of Culture, with Claudia Mattos Avolese, Senior Lecturer in Visual and Material Studies, SMFA at Tufts, alongside TUAG Director and Chief Curator Dina Deitsch.

Image: Jaider Esbell, A Árvore de Todos os Saberes, 2013.

Véxoa: We Know is made possible by Teiger Foundation.