Americas Society Presents an Exhibition on the Diverse Cultural Production of the Amazon

New York, August 12, 2025 — Americas Society presents Amazonia Açu, an exhibition that sheds light on the multiplicities of the Amazon, a region which comprises many different communities, each distinguished by its own belief system, culture, and language.

On view from September 3, 2025 to April 18, 2026, the show includes paintings, textiles, ceramics, drawings, videos, photographs, and sculptures from artists and collectives of all nine countries of the Pan-Amazon region: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

Amazonia Açu will feature over 50 contemporary artworks, from 1990 to the present. The exhibition provides a kaleidoscopic overview of the aesthetic, cultural, and material diversity found in the Amazon as a means to upend flattening generalizations typically associated with the territory and to frame the discourse surrounding the region within a contemporary context.

"The 'Amazonia Açu'—the latter a Tupi-Guaraní word for 'large' or 'expanded'—is not only the largest carbon sink on Earth and a sanctuary of biodiversity, but also home to hundreds of languages and other forms of cultural expression," said Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Americas Society’s director and chief curator of Art. "The exhibition aims to highlight the diversity of the region, encouraging future research and other exhibition projects to expand study of the territory."

The show is co-curated by a committee of representatives from each country within the Amazon region: Curatorial Advisor Keyna Eleison and Mateus Nunes of Brazil, Elvira Espejo Ayca of Bolivia, María Wills of Colombia, Diana Iturralde of Ecuador, T2i and NouN of French Guiana, Grace Aneiza Ali of Guyana, Christian Bendayán of Peru, Miguel Keerveld of Suriname, and Luis Romero of Venezuela.

"Very much like Amazonia, the exhibition is not self-contained. It is a space of openness, interconnection, and meeting. Each work selected, each narrative constructed, carries within itself a story that adds to other stories, creating a collective quilt," said Eleison. "The curators, all from different Amazonian territories, are more than art mediators; they are guardians of their cultures, histories, and worldviews. They invite us to look beyond stereotypes of the Amazon, listen to its deeper tones, connect ourselves with its subtler layers."

The exhibition shows artworks like Untitled (Pei Kené 1, 2019), a piece in which sprout leaves repeated in flawless precision hint a forest landscape. Peruvian artist Sara Flores used the kené design tradition of the Shipibo-Konibo people that women in her family taught her to create her unique palette with natural dyes on a wild-cotton canvas.

Amazonia Açu also displays works that combine manual collage, photomontage, and painting on raffia, like Histórias do Anu III by Brazilian artist Gê Viana, in which she shows the Afro-diasporic and Indigenous everyday life of the Maranhão territory in Northeast Brazil.

Other artists participating in this exhibition include: Danasion Akobe, Angélica Alomoto, Pablo Amaringo, Johan Amiemba, Lola Ankarapi, Chonon Bensho, Darrell A. Carpenay, Elías Caurey Caurey, Colectivo TAWNA, Comunidad Weenhayek, Estela Dagua, PV Dias, Dawa García, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Shaundell Horton, Sri Irodikromo, Carlos Jacanamijoy, Wilfrido Lusitande Piaguaje, Thiago Martins de Melo, Hélio Melo, Mary Morales Barrientos, NouN, Claudia Opimí Vaca, Bernadette Indira Persaud, Javier Puunawe, Abel Rodríguez (Mogaje Guihu), Aycoobo (Wilson Rodríguez), Nancy Santi, Nelly Sheimi, T2i, Agustina Valera and Oliver Agustín, and Santiago Yahuarcani.

To accompany the show, Americas Society will present a series of public programs and publish a catalogue.

Press contact: mediarelations@as-coa.org

Funders

Amazonia Açu is supported by the William Talbott Hillman Foundation, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Consulate General of Brazil in New York with Instituto Guimarães Rosa, the Cowles Charitable Trust, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. In-kind support is provided by Instituto de Visión.

Americas Society acknowledges the generous support of the Arts of the Americas Circle members: Amalia Amoedo, Estrellita B. Brodsky, Virginia Cowles Schroth, Emily Engel, Isabella Hutchinson, Carolina Jannicelli, Diana López and Herman Sifontes, Elena Matsuura, Maggie Miqueo, Antonio Murzi, Gabriela Pérez Rocchietti, Marco Pappalardo and Cintya Poletti Pappalardo, Carolina Pinciroli, Erica Roberts, Sharon Schultz, and Edward J. Sullivan.