Mural: Denilson Baniwa

Denilson Baniwa is an Indigenous artist and cultural producer born in the Baturité-Barreira community in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. His practice draws and reflects upon the cultural, material, and aesthetic practices of his community while simultaneously questioning the role of contemporary Indigenous aesthetic manifestations in local and global discourses. In this outdoor mural, the artist depicts a jaguar, also known as onça-pintada, yaguareté or Yawareté—as it appears in his work—which is the largest feline native to most of the Américas. Now, however, the animal is only found in Central and South America. Yawareté is a constant motif for Baniwa. Sometimes it takes the shape of a shaman-jaguar during a performance or video. Others, it is depicted in a mural or painting alongside a written reminder that all land is native land or terra indígena. While this version of the mural does not include the words “terra indígena,” the jaguar’s presence in a territory where it is otherwise inexistent serves as a reminder of its resistance and resilience.

Like Indigenous peoples in Brazil—and elsewhere—the jaguar continues to face threats from capitalist development and land grabbing, which have pushed it to the brink of extinction. Yet, the feline has persevered. It is believed that its name “yaguareté” comes from the Guarani yaguar and eté, which mean fierce and true, respectively. For the Baniwa peoples, the povo-onça or jaguar people are the guardians of ancestral wisdom. Given that the jaguar, onça, or yaguareté holds a significant meaning for multiple Indigenous communities, the mural upholds their and the animal’s value within their cosmology and as a reminder that they are both still here, still present, and still fighting.

*Image, Denilson Baniwa (Mariuá, Rio Negro, Amazonas, 1984), Yawareté maku tetama (onça-pintada em terra ancestral) I (jaguar in ancestral land), 2023. Photo by Mel Taing.