{"id":90315,"date":"2026-04-08T11:15:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/concertacaoamazonia.com.br\/cultura\/linha-das-artes\/paulo-desana-uses-image-as-an-affirmation-of-indigenous-existence\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:51:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:51:55","slug":"paulo-desana-uses-image-as-an-affirmation-of-indigenous-existence","status":"publish","type":"linha-das-artes","link":"https:\/\/concertacaoamazonia.com.br\/cultura\/en\/linha-das-artes\/paulo-desana-uses-image-as-an-affirmation-of-indigenous-existence\/","title":{"rendered":"Paulo Desana uses image as an affirmation of indigenous existence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Filmmaker, visual artist and photographer Paulo Desana believes photography is a way of making visible abstract dimensions that are difficult to express in visual art: the knowledge, memory and permanence of indigenous peoples. The Amazonian artist of Desana ethnicity seeks to construct images that reveal the living presence of ancestral knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with the Concertation, Paulo spoke about his work and experience as an artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restlessness and the search for identity as the driving force of his art<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His work stems from a question that arose throughout his journey, one marked by absences and discoveries. How to show that this knowledge does not belong to the past, but remains alive in Indigenous bodies, practices, and territories? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his childhood and adolescence, Paulo had no access to information about his indigenous origins. Born in S\u00e3o Gabriel da Cachoeira, in the Upper Rio Negro region (AM), where 23 ethnic groups coexist, today he says he is astonished by such erasure, coming not only from within his family, but mainly from history taught in school, which reinforced the idea that these peoples belonged to the past. “It gave the impression that indigenous peoples no longer existed,” he recalls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far from being an individual process, this is an experience shared by many people of indigenous descent, who grew up without access to information about the presence and identity of their peoples in the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The encounter with his history begins after his work at FOIRN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Paulo’s case, it was only after he started working at the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of the Rio Negro (FOIRN) that he began to understand his history and the continuity of his ancestral peoples. Contact with leaders, narratives, and knowledge transformed the vision that he had of his trajectory and identity. It was from this moment on that his relationship with indigenous culture, territory, and history began to guide his artistic production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an early age, his work was shaped by discomfort. The artist explains that, when looking at photographs of indigenous people taken by other professionals, yet he recognized the aesthetic quality of the images, he felt something essential was missing. “I saw very beautiful photos, but I wondered: does this show the knowledge, history, and culture that this person possesses?”, he questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This question guides the entire construction of his language, in which photography becomes a means of revealing what is not obvious in one’s eye and of showing that this knowledge remains alive. In it, culture is not in the past, but present in everyday life, building continuity between yesterday and today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luminescence as a way of narrating ancestral permanence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artist had his turning point during the pandemic, when he found photography with luminescent ink a possible artistic expression. From then on, he began to develop his own aesthetic, in which graphic elements, bodies, and light combine to express the presence of ancestors in the present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The images that illustrate this text are examples of his artistic discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anita de Francisca Lima, photograph of series \u201cPam\u00fcrimasa – Os Esp\u00edritos da Transforma\u00e7\u00e3o\u201d<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Gilda da Silva Barreto, photograph of series \u201cPam\u00fcrimasa – Os Esp\u00edritos da Transforma\u00e7\u00e3o\u201d<\/em>
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Art work in which mythologies underpin knowledge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foundation of his work lies within the mythologies and knowledge of the peoples of the Upper Rio Negro. Among them, the Cobra-Canoa (Snake-Canoe)<\/a> The Cobra-Canoa myth, with some variations, is common to several ethnic groups of the Upper Rio Negro, such as the Desana and the Tukano. It explains that the region was populated after a giant serpent that crosses the river carrying the first human beings in its belly appeared. It symbolizes the origin, identity, and social organization of these peoples. <\/span><\/dfn> myth takes center stage. According to this cosmology, indigenous peoples originated from an ancestral journey undertaken by the Cobra-Canoa, in which different groups and forms of knowledge were established along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, one of the artist’s best-known series emerges, “Pam\u00fcrimasa – Os Esp\u00edritos da Transforma\u00e7\u00e3o”, in which he seeks to express the presence of ancestors in current bodies and practices. The light reveals, in the graphic designs and gestures, the permanence of ancestral knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The idea was to show that this knowledge comes from our ancestors and lives on today,” he explains. In constructing these images, Paulo reveals that culture is present in individuals, in their experiences and ways of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His creative process follows this logic. The people depicted are residents of communities in the Upper Rio Negro region, who contribute with graphic design related to their people and history. Therefore, Paulo’s photography stems from prior recognition and a relationship of trust. “I already knew these people. I explained the project and they brought their graphic design,” he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the photographs are taken, we have time for conversation, listening, and exchange. Images are not simply made: they are constructed collaboratively, based on pre-existing relationships that deepen throughout this encounter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Carmem Figueiredo Alves, photograph of series \u201cPam\u00fcrimasa – Os Esp\u00edritos da Transforma\u00e7\u00e3o\u201d
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Territory, forest and connection as aesthetic and symbolic foundations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Amazon is represented in all of Paulo Desana’s work. “The Amazon is this melting pot of culture, art, of everything,” the artist says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For him, the forest is a space of presence and belonging, where knowledge, practices, and the ways of life that guide his artistic creation are concentrated. There lie the stories and connections that fuel his work, which also guide his own ways of relating to the territory and its resources. “Whenever I can, I enter the forest.” It is where I feel connected,” he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Herculino Jorge Ara\u00fajo Alvez, photograph of series \u201cPam\u00fcrimasa – Os Esp\u00edritos da Transforma\u00e7\u00e3o\u201d<\/em>
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From photography to audiovisual media: ways of showing different dimensions of culture and thinking about the future.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same restlessness extends to his audiovisual work. In his production company, Dabukuri Entretenimento, Paulo undertakes projects that explore different aspects of Amazonian indigenous culture. Among them are a series about traditional gastronomy, which seeks to reveal not only the dishes, but also the stories and mythologies that accompany them, and a feature film that combines fiction and ancestral narratives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his ongoing work, a new line of research is emerging: how do indigenous peoples envision themselves in the future? His proposal is for one to imagine a world in which technology and tradition coexist \u2014 and in which decisions about the use of territories and natural resources also take ancestral knowledge into account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, indigenous knowledge does not appear as a legacy of the past, but as a living reference for considering possible paths to development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photograph of series \u201cPam\u00fcrimasa – Os Esp\u00edritos da Transforma\u00e7\u00e3o\u201d

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Indigenous cultures are alive in bodies, gestures, and territories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Paulo’s journey, art has become a guiding principle. It is not only a profession, it is a way of understanding and expressing the world. “Art is what guides me,” he summarizes. It is in it that the artist finds an answer to the historical and symbolic erasure of indigenous peoples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By making visible what is often unrecognized, Paulo Desana affirms the existence and continuity of these cultures. “A people without culture is a people that does not exist. Culture is our foundation,” he emphasizes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His works of art show that culture is not a distant memory. It is the foundation and structure; it is what sustains the existence of a people. Making this visible is, at the same time, an artistic gesture and an ethical and political stance that also contributes to broadening the debate about development paths in the Amazon and how different forms of knowledge can drive decisions about its future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Manoel Lima, photograph of series \u201cPam\u00fcrimasa – Os Esp\u00edritos da Transforma\u00e7\u00e3o\u201d
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