A Brazilian Artist Invites Us to Meet Mythical Amazonian Creatures Face to Face
By
Carolina Abbott Galvão
Adriana Varejão brings Amazonian folklore and colonial critique to Manhattan.
In Amazonian folklore, the boto-cor-de-rosa, or pink river dolphin, is a magical, shape-shifting creature, who at night emerges from the water and turns into a handsome man clad in a white suit and white hat. It is considered sacred, and so should not be killed, or eaten, or even gazed upon. The Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão’s exhibition at New York’s Hispanic Society, Don’t Forget, We Come From the Tropics, breaks that last rule. The artist’s sinuous fiberglass plate paintings put mythical Amazonian creatures front and center: tropical birds and opossums and, yes, pink...
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