Ka'a Body
Ka’a Body is a touring, international showcase of indigenous art and culture from Brazil curated by Indigenous curator Sandra Benites and artist Anita Ekman. It is the first such show staged outside of Brazil by an Indigenous curator.
Nick initiated the project with Sandra and Anita in 2020. Exhibitions have been staged in London at Paradise Row Projects and in Paris at Radicants.
About the exhibition
Ka’a Body explores the relationship between the body and territory as a way of establishing a dialogue between the indigenous and non-indigenous on the history of the forests and bodies, and articulates various cosmologies of indigenous cultures.
As such Ka’a Body becomes a portal between two distant yet connected worlds: the vast, complex world of the rainforests of Brazil (the Amazon and remnants of the Atlantic Rainforest) and the world of London, also vast and complex, which, as a centre of global capitalism, profited from Indigenous and African labour in these forests on its path to power and dominance.
The artworks in this exhibition reflect the worldviews of the Indigenous people, which are inseparable from the forest. We launch this exhibition to open a true dialogue which will enable healing and create a space of exchange with the other through these artworks.
Text by Sandra Benites