1st Bienal das Amazônias, Bubuia: Water as a Source of Imaginations and Desires

Readytex Art Gallery is proud to announce that works by several of her affiliated artists have been chosen by the curators to be presented in the 1st Bienal das Amazônias in Belém, the capital of Pará in Brazil.

Opening to the public on August 4 and on view until November 5, 2023, this first edition of the Biennial has as its theme: Bubuia: Water as a Source of Imaginations and Desires. This term, used by the Caboclos (Brazilians of mixed Indigenous, European and African descent), inspired the curators to think about the Amazonian wisdom of respecting the flow of the rivers and the life that is projected in the forest.

Created with the proposal to awaken reflection on how art is made in the region without stereotypes, the new art institution in the global South will bring together 121 artists/collectives from nine countries in the Pan-Amazon region. From Brazil, representatives of nine States will be present. Together the artists represent a region with common geographic characteristics of the biome formed by the forest, the fauna and the rivers, and shared ways of life associated with natural resources – maintaining their multiple territories, multiple ways of living and their own historical contexts. The participating Surinamese visual artists from Readytex Art Gallery are Kenneth Flijders, Miguel Keerveld, Kit-Ling Tjon Pian Gi and René Tosari.

The Biennial will be held in what was formerly the largest department store of its time, consisting of four floors and 7.6 thousand square meters in the commercial center of the capital of Pará. The choice of space, different from the usual museums and galleries, and the focus on artists from the Amazon, is part of the strategy incorporated by the Bienal to break with the “usual” ways of making art, considering methods, aesthetics, materials, spaces and narratives.

The curatorial body of the Bienal das Amazônias is composed of a ‘Sapukai’ collective of women with diverse profiles including Sandra Benites, Keyna Eleison and Vânia Leal. ‘Sapukai’, a term derived from the Tupi language can be translated as: chant, clamor, scream. At the Biennial the meaning approaches the curatorial intention of strengthening what is chant or scream, of pain, joy or fear of the Amazonian peoples expressed in the works of the artists.

The Bienal das Amazônias is open to the public free of charge at Rua Senador Manoel Barata, 400. Comércio – Belém, Pará, Amazônia. Opening hours are from Tuesday to Friday, from 9:30am to 7pm; on Saturdays from 11 am to 8 pm, and on Sundays from 11 am to 6 pm.

Do visit if you happen to be in the neighborhood!