Panel • Decolonial Futurities: A Conversation with Indigenous Artists Olinda Yawar Tupinambá & Ziel Karapotó

This conversation features Indigenous artists Olinda Yawar Tupinambá and Ziel Karapotó, who both exhibited work in the Brazil Pavilion of the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. Leila Lehnen, Chair of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, and Jamille Pinheiro Dias, Fall 2024 Craig M. Cogut Visiting Professor in the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, will moderate. The conversation emerges from the graduate collaborative humanities seminar “Decolonial Futurities,” led by Lehnen and Macarena Gómez-Barris, which explores artistic responses to legacies of (neo)colonialism, racial capitalism, and extractivist exploitation.In Portuguese with English translation provided by headset.Free and open the public. For questions or to request special services, accommodations, or assistance, please contact humanities-institute@brown.edu (mailto:humanities-institute@brown.edu) or (401) 863-6070.About the SpeakersOlinda Yawar Tupinambá, who belongs to the Tupinambá and Pataxó Hãhãhãe peoples, is a multi-talented journalist, photographer, screenwriter, director, curator, performance artist, filmmaker, and environmental activist. Her work “Equilíbrio” was showcased at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. She has curated several festivals and film exhibitions, including the Cine Kurumin Indigenous Film Festival, Mostra Lugar de Mulher é no Cinema, and the first Indigenous Film and Culture Festival — FeCCI 2022. She also produced two film exhibitions: Mostra Paraguaçu de Cinema Indígena and Amotara — Olhares das Mulheres Indígenas (2021). In 2015, she earned a degree in social communication with a specialization in journalism from Faculdades Integradas Ipitanga (FACIIP). Through her artistic endeavors, she challenges and dispels racialized and stereotypical perceptions of Indigenous peoples. Her work serves to amplify ancestral voices, condemning historical and contemporary anti-Indigenous violence while also asserting the significance of Indigenous territories, bodies, existences, and expressions, underscoring the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples across time. Her work emphasizes that Indigenous individuals, cultures, and knowledges are integral to the contemporary world, drawing from the Indigenous past to redefine and update narratives of Indigeneity.Ziel Karapotó is a visual multimedia artist, filmmaker, actor, and cultural producer hailing from the Karapotó community of Terra Nova, São Sebastião in the Brazilian state of Alagoas and currently residing in the Indigenous territory of Marataro Kaetés, Igarassu in the state of Pernambuco. His work has garnered recognition on both national and international platforms. Notably, his artwork “Cardume II” (2024) was showcased at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. His short film “The verb became flesh” (2019) received the prestigious “From Another Sky” prize in 2020. He has actively contributed to the research groups Ciência e Arte indígena no Nordeste (CAIN-UFPE) and Culturas de Antirracismo na América Latina (CARLA-UFBA). Since 2021, he has served as the general coordinator of the Associação de Indígena em Contexto Urbano Karaxuwanassu (ASSICUKA). His artistic practice and knowledge-making are deeply rooted in the traditions of his ancestors, serving as a form of resistance and anticolonial strength, aligning with his belief in the enduring power of Indigenous art and science.Presented by the Cogut Institute for the Humanities as part of the Decolonial Futurities Speaker Series, and the Brown Arts Institute as part of the IGNITE series, with the support of the Department of Modern Culture and Media, the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, and the Brazil Initiative at the Watson Institute.