Officially created in March 2013, the emergence of the Huni Kuin Artist Movement (MAHKU) dates back to the end of the 2000s, when the collective began the work of translating traditional songs of the Huni Kuin indigenous people (Acre) into figurative drawings for courses in Indigenous Studies at the Federal University of Acre (UFC).
Exhibition view "MAHKU: Mirações" (Visions), MASP, 2023. Photo: Isabella Matheus
Ibã Huni Kuin, Bane Huni Kuin, Rare Huni Kuin, Ayani Huni Kuin, Ibã Neto Sales Kanixawa, Artist Movement of the Huni Kuin Collective (MAHKU), Yube Inu Yube Shanu, 2020. Acrylic on canvas, 135 x 220 cm. MASP Collection. Photo: Eduardo Ortega
Curated by Adriano Pedrosa, artistic director, MASP; Guilherme Giufrida, assistant curator, MASP; and Ibã Huni Kuin, guest curator, MAHKU: Mirações (Visions) is an exhibit based on Huni Kuin culture, an indigenous people from Brazil and Peru. Bringing together 108 paintings, drawings and sculptures that originate from translations and recordings of songs as well as myths and stories about Huni Kuin ancestry, the title of the exhibition at MASP refers to the visual experiences generated by nixi pae rituals—which involve the ingestion of ayahuasca—called visions.
The overall objective of the “MAHKU group seems to be to build sustainable paths by developing a policy of association as a means of empowerment,” notes curator Guilherme Giufrida. “In other words, they are interested in producing and facilitating the passage between worlds, always with the risk and awareness of the distances and asymmetries, which can be controlled and guided by the power of storytelling, songs, the images they produce, and the ethical sense of survival of their modes of existence.”
The show aims to extend knowledge about and among the Huni Kuin, as well as to understand the contribution of their work to contemporary art.
MAHKU: Mirações (Visions) On display until June 4, 2023
MASP Av. Paulista, 1578. São Paulo/SP, Brazil Opening hours: Tuesday—free admission, 10am-8pm (entry until 7pm); Wednesday to Sunday, 10am-6pm (entry until 5pm); closed on Mondays.
www.masp.org.br
Ibã Huni Kuin, Acelino Huni Kuin, MAHKU, Painting of Everyday Life, 2020. Ballpoint pen ink and colored pencil on paper, 30 × 42 cm. São Paulo Museum of Art Assis Chateaubriand, MASP Afterall Art School, 2021.
Ibã Huni Kuin, Bane Huni Kuin, Artist Movement of the Huni Kuin Collective (MAHKU), Untitled, 2017. Hydrographic pen on paper, 29.70 x 42 cm. MASP Collection. Photo: Eduardo Ortega
Ibã Huni Kuin, Maná Huni Kuin, MAHKU, Untitled, circa 2017-19. Hydrographic pen on paper, 29.70 x 42 cm. São Paulo Museum of Art Assis Chateaubriand, artists’ donation, 2019. Photo: Eduardo Ortega
Acelino Tuin Huni Kuin, Artist Movement of the Huni Kuin Collective, Kapenawe pukenibu, 2022. Acrylic on canvas, 140 x 115cm. Commissioned by MASP. Photo: Daniel Cabrel
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