Kuenan Tikuna, The Jump Of The Star – Natural pigments on tururi canvas
Kuenan Tikuna’s work tells how her Magü’ta tribe were fished from the river by the gold Yo’i.
“For the Magü’ta people, water is a deeply sacred element. Magü’ta means the people fished from the sacred Eware River, an infinite river.
The work, “The Jump of the Star”, created in 2023, evokes a rich passage from our worldview. In it, we are reminded that we were fished like fruit by the god Yo’i, the god of good, who granted us life and the life of our clans from the sacred waters of the Eware River, whose currents flow with life and mystery, for they move and only the shamans can find them.
This river, venerated as the abode of the “enchanted”, is the destination to which the Magü’ta people head when they are enchanted, under the protection of the sacred spiritual entity Yewae, who manifests herself in the form of a serpent with a human face.
The waters of the Eware River symbolize connection, renewal and the continuity of life. We, the Magü’tas, perform rituals celebrating the relationship between the people and the river, seeking to maintain balance and harmony with nature, and also with the hope of becoming immortal, becoming ‘enchanted’. In these ceremonies, we gather and offer prayers and thanks to the gods Yo’i and Yewae, recognizing the vital importance that these waters represent in our lives.
The Eware River is seen as a spiritual guide. The flowing streams bring teachings and stories, while elders impart wisdom on how to live in harmony with the environment. Tales of ancestors who have become part of the river are told around campfires, perpetuating the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Magü’ta people. In this way, the water becomes a metaphor for life, a reminder that we are all interconnected and that each drop carries with it the essence of our ancestors, showing us that the future is ancestral.”
Kuenan Tikuna, ÃNEGÜ – Yewae, protector of the sacred waters that manifests itself in dreams, signifying the opening of paths and new cycles.
The stories told by the Magü’ta elders, for whom oral tradition is extremely important, tell that their ancestors lived between two worlds, the world of the “enchanted” and the world lived by the “non-enchanted”. The “enchanted” are beings who were present in the mythical time of the beginning of the world and are still present today. They were great masters of knowledge who taught them how to be Magü’ta, and created the rules of coexistence and interactions with the world.
According to the elders, the Magü’ta people originate from the Éware Creek, located at the headwaters of the São Jerônimo Creek, on the left bank of the upper Solimões River in the Amazonas Rainforest. Éware is a sacred place for the Magü’ta. It is the home of the “enchanted”, the creators, the heroes of the people.
The Magü’ta people are currently known as the Tikuna people, a name given to them by the colonizers that means “men painted black” because their painting is based on jenipapo, a fruit from which a black dye is extracted, with which they paint intricate designs on their bodies. They are a people who transcend the borders of Brazil, extending into the territories of Colombia and Peru, always on the banks of the Solimões River. This region, known as the triple frontier, has been and continues to be the scene of conflicts between rubber tappers, loggers, and fishermen, which makes the Magü’ta people’s fight for the preservation of their culture and ancestral territory a constant.
About Kuenan Tikuna
Kuenan Tikuna on the Eware River.
Kuenan Tikuna is a young trans-indigenous model and ARTivist belonging to the Tikuna and Tariana ethnic groups, native to the Amazon region of Brazil. Through art, she connects with the rich culture of the two peoples that gave rise to her and from whom she absorbed secrets and ancestral knowledge that shaped her worldview. From a contemporary perspective, she uses art and activism as political tools, intertwining the identity and spiritual vitality of her people.
Kuenan’s works reflect her worldview, in which nature, ancestral spirits, and human beings coexist in continuous transformation, as does gender identity. In them, the figures move between the human and nature, rejecting and expanding the binary impositions of gender.
Kuenan Tikuna, PU’TCHIGÜ – the meeting of trans bodies in the Tikuna sky, where the central figure is Woramacuri, the sacred sun of the Tikuna people that unites these two beings.
Kuenan expresses her art through a variety of technologies, from the most modern to the production of her own inks made with natural pigments from the Amazon and her own “sacred canvas” made of tururi, a natural, resistant and flexible plant fiber that appears in the form of a fibrous sac that envelops the fruits of the Ubuçu palm tree.
Tururi is only collected during the full moon, a moment of great spiritual significance for the Tikuna. The ritual of collecting and preparing tururi connects Kuenan with her territory and culture and is an act of communion with nature. For her, this “sacred canvas” is a testament to the cultural and spiritual resistance of her people.
Kuenan Tikuna, YUMARE – The work portrays the ritual of shamans to enchant sacred flutes, which, from the moment of blessing, transform into beings that are hidden from the eyes of children and women, normally bringing blessings and prosperity when they manifest themselves in the rites.
Thanks to Maria Fernanda Paes de Barros.
