Brus Rubio Churay (Murui-Bora/ Peruvian Amazon) : A Shipibo Conibo Center collaboration, presented by Sapar Contemporary

Sapar Contemporary presents a new body of work by Brus Rubio Churay (Murui and Bora Peoples/ Peruvian Amazon) that is focused on indigenous cosmo-vision and critical role of non-human life -  rainforest animals and medicinal plants in this cosmology. Rubio created a series of dynamic canvases that feature ritual dances and ceremonies performed by capuchin monkeys, jaguars, ant-eaters, Amazonian pink dolphins, falcons, often wearing masks and holding ritual objects.Introduced to the arts by his father, himself a painter and an indigenous community leader, Rubio sees his art as deeply connected to his educational and environmental work in his community. Rubio collaborates with Shipibo Conibo Center and part of the proceeds from the sales of his work at the fair will go towards environmental activism and Indigenous land sovereignty project.

They dance at the door of the universe, the entrance to the magical cosmos, where the clans meet and conspire in harmony, creating new festival times, when there is great abundance and production of all fruits, the family of one clan invites another clan to the ritual of abundance, in this way the guests come to celebrate, imitating each animal that feeds on fruits such as; the maidenfish feeds on the palm tree, man pays homage to it as well to other beings that are of air, earth and water, with masks and wooden helmets, creating a kind of theater, each animal representing harmony with its movement to collect the fruits especially from the pijuayo (palm tree). For example, the movement of the swallows that dance on the surface of the water and spread the drops of dew in the air, the triumph of the man inside the water over the diseases, coming out of there with another self of the hawk bird that represents the ascent of the knowledge to the cosmic, physical (hummingbird) while the ficaflor represents the purity and beauty that led us to knowledge in this way cares and protects with the fire that comes from its heart.

In conclusion, the Bora people celebrate the festival of the chicha del pijuayo (palm tree) imitating the animals that feed on the plant as well as in honor of the first man who brought the stretcher from under the world of water bringing it to the surface.

- Brus Rubio

Brus Rubio Churay (1983) is an Indigenous contemporary artist and activist member of the Murui and Bora Peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. He was born in the community of Pucaurquillo, in the Ampiyacu river basin. Introduced to the arts by his father, himself a painter and an indigenous community leader, Rubio works to shed light on the mythology, history and culture of the Murui. Rubio’s art practice like that of his father is deeply connected to his educational and environmental work in his community. A self-taught painter, he began to paint on llanchama (tree bark) with natural dyes. Later Rubio built a workshop and a painting studio on the banks of the Ampiyacu River where he worked and gave classes to children in order to preserve the traditional knowledge of his community. 

Rubio’s works are in the collection of Lima Art Museum and important private collections in Latin America. He has exhibited widely in Latin America and Europe. His recent and upcoming exhibitions include special project in Lima, Peru curated by Gretna Landolt, a group show at Fondation Cartier, Paris; and an exhibition at Musee du quai Branly, Paris. Throughout his career, his work has focused on the wisdom of his Amazonian homeland and its indigenous traditions, and has cemented him as one of the most important contemporary Amazonian Indigenous artists of his generation.

Shipibo Conibo Center is dedicated to the core values of Indigenous ethics that tap into protocols of conviviality, reciprocity, and kinship that extends beyond the human to animal, plant, land, and water. It is within these principles that the Shipibo Conibo Center collaborations are rooted. This implies an understanding that the work of art, the work of environmental activism and the struggle towards Indigenous sovereignty cannot be separated; they must move forward on the same path.The Shipibo Conibo Center collaborations are part of an effort intended to overstep the colonial paradigms that have separated Indigenous artists from the contemporary art setting. These partnerships aim to set up a model of how to possibly rejoin the realms of art, healing, ecology, and politics that were separated through colonial and neocolonial modes of extraction and representation.