The pencil drawings, gouache and watercolors of Desana The Desana, who call themselves Umuko Masá (“people of the universe”), are one of the sixteen peoples of the Eastern Tukano linguistic family, residents of the Uaupés River region, a tributary of the Upper Rio Negro. The Tiquié River, the banks of which house the village where Sibé was born, is a tributary of the Uaupés. visual artist Feliciano Pimentel Lana (birth name), bring to life the memories, images and mythical narratives of Sibé, his “breathing name Sacred name given to newborns.”, which means “Child of the Sun”, in English.
The pencil drawings, gouache and watercolors of Desana visual artist Feliciano Pimentel Lana (birth name), bring to life the memories, images and mythical narratives of Sibé, his “breathing name”, which means “Child of the Sun”, in English.
Owner of an unmistakable style, where each composition corresponds to a narrative, his work originated at the time when he collaborated with Lithuanian priest Casimiro Béksta, a teacher at the local Salesian school, who was interested in learning about indigenous myths and shamanism.
His drawings and paintings are loaded with symbols that tell the story of the indigenous groups that inhabit his home territory. They portray fish, birds, jaguars and snakes; indigenous canoes, rivers, beaches and landscapes of the Upper Rio Negro. They express his view of the world and the beings that, according to the elders, delight those whereabouts.
Feliciano’s entry into the world of art took place during his childhood
Son of a Desana father and Tukano mother, Sibé belonged to sib (group of descendants of the same ancestor) Kenhiporã, a term that means something along the lines of “Children of Dream Drawings”, in English.
He began to venture into visual art at the age of 11, after he left his hometown to study at the Salesian boarding school in Pari-Cachoeira. There, he took drawing lessons and learned about proportion, perspective, geometric construction, composition, light and shadow. The boarding school was also where he gained the name Feliciano Pimentel Lana. After 6th grade, Sibé moved to Colombia, where he lived for five years performing manual labor, as a mechanic, farmer and rubber tapper, but no drawing.
Upon his return, the artist married Joaquina Machado, a Tukano from Pari-Cachoeira. It was at this time that Sibé began to cooperate with Father Casemiro Béksta’s research. He gave out paper, pencils, a tape recorder and drawing materials to some of his former students and asked them to gather information from their relatives, especially the elders, since their cultural heritage was maintained only by oral traditions.
When interviewing his father-in-law for the project, Feliciano became concerned about the difficulty in expressing some of the ideas he heard. So, he decided to draw the episodes narrated by the elder.
In Lana’s life and work, drawing and narrative are inseparable
Since then, Feliciano dedicated his entire life to capturing and illustrating these narratives, becoming the owner of a vast and detailed knowledge of the history, stories and landscapes of the northwest Amazon, always expressing himself through his drawings and paintings. As he did in this illustration of the myth of Cobra Honorato:
Cobra Honorato (or Norato) is a spellbound snake that lived with his twin sister, Maria Caninana, on the river bed. Honorato is said to have befriended a soldier who helped him break the spell, turning him into a man for life. In the drawing above, Feliciano portrays Honorato before he was turned into man, but telling his mother that he wishes to meet and be with his father.
The origin of the universe through the Desana gaze conquers the world
Among his most notable works, the illustrations of book “Antes o mundo não existia: mitologia dos antigos Desana-Kehíripõrã”[There was no world before: mythology of the ancient Desana-Kehíripõrã] stand out, written by Luiz Lana and Firmiano Lana (Tolaman Kenhiri and Umúsin Panlon Kumu), respectively his cousin and uncle. With an introduction and notes by anthropologist Berta Ribeiro, the book first published in 1980 is considered a classic in Brazilian anthropology, as well as in indigenous literature, containing the Desana myth of the creation of the world and other stories.
Feliciano’s art illustrates the connections between the world of men and that of other beings
The drawing below tells part of the story of Diadoê, which explains the origin of the matapi (fishing artifact), pirarucu and traíra fish. The work portrays Muhipu, Gente-Estrela (some say he was a powerful god) who lived on the Uaupés River, above the Jutica community. Every day he took his son fishing and caught many fish. Others in the village went fishing, but no fish was caught.
Sibé’s work and heritage are not limited to his drawings
In partnership with Aldísio Filgueiras, writer Márcio Souza was inspired by the Desana legends to write the libretto for opera “Dessana, Dessana”. And also to produce and direct documentary “O começo antes do começo” [The beginning before the beginning], which features illustrations by Feliciano and is narrated by Father Casimiro about the creation myth, from the perspective of the Upper Rio Negro region.
Feliciano was also a narrator and writer. He was the author of the text and illustrations for “A origem da Noite & Como as mulheres roubaram as flautas sagradas” [The Origin of the Night & How Women Stole the Sacred Flutes], published by the Federal University of Amazonas Publisher in 2009, which consolidates his way of telling stories through drawing.
Feliciano took indigenous culture beyond the Upper Rio Negro
Sibé was one of the most important contemporary indigenous artists in the country. Throughout his career, he has took part in exhibitions in several museums and galleries in Brazil and around the world, having visited countries such as Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
It is no coincidence that this indigenous creation giant, recognized for the artistic and ethnographic value of his work, has a permanent exhibition at Museu da Amazônia (Musa) [Amazon Museum], in Manaus, including 52 watercolors and drawings that tell the myths and stories of the Desana people.
His art is fundamental to the record-keeping and preservation of the indigenous culture of the Upper Rio Negro. And, as of February, it will also inspire and enlighten the visual identity of the Concertation’s digital channels.
