UÝRA | The Living Forest
the details
UÝRA (b. 1991) is an indigenous visual artist, performer, biologist, activist, and art educator from Manaus, Brazil. Their social name and artistic alias, UÝRA, derives from the ancient Tupi language, meaning flying insect or animal.
The artist is also known as "the walking tree" (or "the tree that walks")—and in this context, UÝRA's work focuses on the diasporic experience of indigenous communities in Brazil and beyond, as a result of the oppression and forced displacement that they have experienced over the centuries. "A walking tree breaks the Western, Eurocentric, colonial-thinking mold that envisions trees as stationary, motionless organisms," says UÝRA. "By turning into UÝRA, I want to highlight how indigenous bodies have always moved independently from colonialism."
This is the artist's first monograph, published alongside their first solo exhibition in the United States, UÝRA: The Living Forest, at the Currier Museum of Art.
Pages: 80
Publisher: Currier Museum of Art