Exhibition “Faces da Floresta” takes portraits of the Yanomami people to the Stickel Foundation, in São Paulo

Valdir Cruz woke up to the reality of the Yanomami people through the shaman Davi Kopenawa, in 1994, when the indigenous leader was speaking at the headquarters of the United Nations (UN) in New York. On this occasion, he photographed it in his studio, starting the Faces da Floresta project. Even then, continuous and unrestricted contact with illegal miners and other invaders of Yanomami territory brought devastating epidemics and irreversible cultural degradation to the indigenous people.

Exhibition “Faces of the Forest – The Yanomami” premieres on March 18 at Espaço Fundação Sticke, in São Paulo|Valdir Cruz

Touched by this brutal reality, which continues to this day, the photographer pledged to support the Yanomami with his photography. There were four expeditions to the communities located on the border between Brazil and Venezuela, between 1995 and 1997. Of the records generated during this period, 26 photographs in black and white will occupy, from March 18th, the Espaço Fundação Stickel, in São Paulo. Paul. Access the exhibition folder here.

The unprecedented exhibition, curated by Rubens Fernandes Junior, includes the iconic portrait of Davi Kopenawa, who will be present at the opening of the exhibition, accompanied by Tuira Kopenawa Yanomami and Edmar Tokorino Yanomami and also by leader, writer and environmentalist Ailton Krenak. Faces of the Forest – The Yanomami, produced by Fundação Stickel in partnership with Galeria Bolsa de Arte and with the support of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) and Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), aims to draw attention to the sad reality of destruction of a people and its culture that has extended for decades in the Amazon.

Images from Valdir Cruz’s photographic project in partnership with the Yanomami have already been gathered in the book Faces of the Forest – The Yanomami, with 89 records. The first edition was published by powerHouse Books, in 2002. In Brazil, it was launched by Cosac & Naify in 2004, with a preface by the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva. Both editions are sold out.

Service:

FACES OF THE FOREST – The Yanomami

Exhibition of photographs by Valdir Cruz

Opening: March 18, Saturday, from 11 am; On display until April 29

Time: Monday to Friday, from 11 am to 6 pm; on Saturdays, from 14:00 to 17:00

Local: Stickel Foundation Space – Rua Nova Cidade, 195 – Vila Olímpia, São Paulo

Free entrance