“To prevent the sky from falling”

What does Denilson Baniwa's art teach us about Brazilian indigenous cosmologies?

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the artistic endeavors of Brazilian artist Denilson Baniwa, with a particular focus on how he portrays the indigenous cosmologies of northern Brazil within his work. The theoretical framework that supports the analysis is based on post-colonial studies and anthropological studies of the cultures of Brazilian indigenous peoples, especially studies related to their cosmologies. In the first section, we provide a brief biography of Denilson Baniwa, with an emphasis on his involvement in the contemporary Brazilian indigenous art movement. In the second section, we discuss the main theoretical concepts used in the analysis, namely, cosmopolitics and perspectivism. Following that, we analyze some of Denilson’s artistic works that explore Baniwa cosmogonies, thus reviving the memory and ancestral knowledge of Brazil’s indigenous peoples.