Histórias Indígenas [Indigenous Histories]. Organized by Museu de Arte de São Paulo (Brazil), in collaboration with the Kode Bergen Art Museums (Norway). The exhibition opened at MASP and runs from October 20th, 2023 to February 25th, 2024, and then travels to Kode Bergen from April 26th to August 25th 2024.

Indigenous Histories presents different accounts of indigenous experience from South America, North America, Oceania, and the Nordic region, through art and visual culture, curated by artists and researchers who are Indigenous or of Indigenous descent.

The show brings together around 285 works of multiple media, typologies, origins and periods, from the period before European colonization to the present, by more than 170 artists.

More about the exhibition

Despite its international scope and its temporal breadth, the project does not take an all-encompassing nor an encyclopedic approach – quite the contrary.

In this respect, it is important to consider the meaning of the word “histórias” in Portuguese, which is rather different than “histories” in English.

The term “histórias” encompasses both fiction and nonfiction, historical accounts as well as personal ones, of a public and private nature, on both micro and macro levels.

In Norwegian, the term “historier” shares a similar dual significance, signifying both an interpretation of the past and a personal narrative.

As such, these terms possess a more polyphonic, speculative, open, incomplete, processual, and fragmented quality than the traditional notion of history.

Eight sections

Indigenous Histories comprises of eight sections: Seven devoted to the different regions in South America, North America, Oceania and the Nordic region, and one thematic section devoted to indigenous activism around the world.

The aim is not to fully represent the vast, complex, and layered indigenous histories of each particular region, but more to provide a cross-section, a fragment, or a sample of such histories in concise yet relevant selections, so that they may be juxtaposed with others from different parts of the world.

The exhibition is accompanied by two major publications: A catalog published in separate editions in Portuguese, Norwegian and English, reproducing the works in the show as well as essays about each of the sections written by their curators; an anthology (reader) in separate editions in Portuguese and English, with texts from different authors, selected by the curators, building a more diverse, inclusive and plural panorama connected to Indigenous histories.

Curators

Indigenous Histories is curated by Abraham Cruzvillegas, artist (Mexico City); Alexandra Kahsenni:io Nahwegahbow, Jocelyn Piirainen, Michelle LaVallee and Wahsontiio Cross, National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa); Bruce Johnson-McLean, National Gallery of Australia (Canberra); Edson Kayapó, Kássia Borges Karajá and Renata Tupinambá, MASP (São Paulo); Irene Snarby, Kode (Bergen/Tromsø); Nigel Borell, Auckland War Memorial Museum (Auckland) and Sandra Gamarra (Lima).

The exhibition features master sponsorship from Nubank, support from Sotheby’s and the Norwegian Consulate, and cultural support from the National Gallery of Australia and National Gallery of Canada.