THE INVISIBLE FOREST 2019

 

The Amazon is a central focus of the most consequential geopolitical and environmental concerns of our time. It is a vast, rugged, beautifully diverse expanse that is integral to the Earth System’s ecological well-being yet has been continuously invaded by numerous resource exploitation interests severely lacking in effective sustainable administrative policies. These exploitation interests have been largely dominated by Western economic consumptive forces. Within this setting the region’s original custodians are under threat despite significant studies demonstrating a strong correlation between the last remaining relatively intact forests and the presence of Indigenous peoples.

 

Informed views of the current global climate crisis affirm that Indigenous environmental stewardship perpetuates biodiversity which ensures inter species flourishing, yet it remains a struggle for Indigenous peoples to uphold their rights, maintain their cultural traditions, and preserve their ancestral knowledge and lands. Such traditions have rarely emerged in the context of capitalist societies…

 

The Invisible Forest exhibition at Gallery 46 in Whitechapel from 1-30 June 2019, featured  artworks by renown Indigenous Amazonian artists including Santiago and Rember Yahuarcani, Lastenia Canayo, Roldan Pinedo, Miguel Vilca, and Brus Rubio, providing them with a British platform to make visible their culture’s enlightened world-views. In turn, The Invisible Forest and its adjunct programme of gallery talks offered London audiences unprecedented access to these invaluable insights.