In the large dome of the National Museum of the Republic in Brasília, hundreds of wooden stools suggest a challenge like those of variations on the same theme. Far from it. There, the themes themselves have taken on a hypothetical, unique functionality. (In the exhibition...) Indigenous Banks of Brazil: RitualsOn display until February 22 at the National Museum, the selection of 600 benches (chosen from a batch of 1,3 pieces from the impressive Bei Collection, amassed by Marisa Moreira Salles and Tomás Alvim over the last 20 years) presents a diversity of visions from 51 ethnic groups throughout Brazil, something rarely equaled in terms of indigenous art.

Given its thematic uniqueness, one wonders how the Indigenous Benches exhibition is captivating viewers worldwide and drawing hundreds of visitors to the Esplanade of Ministries daily. Recently, when choosing the 10 best native art exhibitions of 2025, the North American publication First American Art Magazine The Brazilian exhibition was included as one of the highlights. The display of these pieces began during the COP 30 conference in Belém do Pará in November, joining other artifacts.
Now on display in other iconic locations in Brasília, such as the Itamaraty Palace and the Memorial to Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous stools, at first glance, seem to suggest a single, unequivocal use: sitting. But they represent a great diversity of purposes, most of them ceremonial. There are stools for shamans, chiefs, and stools for women's use. There are pieces that were part of rituals of seclusion, passage, thanksgiving for the harvest, healing, or...
In memory of the dead. As is known, ceremonies are central events in cultures.
Indigenous peoples, but they are not uniform. However, the bench has been an everyday object.
present in most of them.

A cougar, moving with a slender gait, looks to the left, and its gaze and the position of its eyes are striking.
The ears emphasize a dialogue with the viewer. A frog with its tongue out guards the
back of the short-legged stool. The monkey's tail, stretched to the ground, forms a
The balance tripod on the bench makes it fall-proof. The crab-shaped bench puts the
They extend their claws forward to create a supporting arm. Marmosets carry their young on their backs.
Two-headed hawks, vultures, tapirs, pacas, armadillos: the forest appears sculpted in
All its diversity at the village stool festival.

Carved, in general, from a single piece of wood, a trunk or a root, their
Form develops from forms already present in nature, and what is astonishing is the
The multiplicity of perspectives that indigenous peoples applied based on natural resources.
As Darcy Ribeiro wrote, regarding the indigenous contribution to the formation of identity.
In addition to the genetic matrix, the national role also included that of a "cultural agent that transmitted its
"A millennial experience of ecological adaptation to newly conquered lands." The banks
Their ritualistic practices exemplify this capacity for ecological adaptation in a remarkable way.
Shapes, fittings, curves, and carvings follow the clues of what was already offered in
forest, in the trunk that floated down the river or in the root that emerged when the tree fell.

According to the curators, almost all of them indigenous (Akauã Kamayurá, Antonio Bane
Huni-Kuí, Krumaré Karajá, Mayawari Mehinaku, Rael Tapinaré, Salomão Tikuna, Sokrowe
Karajá, Tawai Yudjá, Thiago Djekupe, Waralup Kaiabi, Yawapi Kamayurá), the banks of
Wood pieces are prominent in the indigenous hierarchy, being widely used by the shaman and
by the chief. "It is common for the chief to sit on his bench when transmitting news to
"community, announce new guidelines, manage agendas, or mediate conflicts."

There is also a fabulous selection of clubs, batons, oars, spears, hatchets and
other objects surround the main pieces, which are the benches. The consistency of
The narratives that the object carries make it a piece of "anti-design," something that is not...
The service is not about solving a problem or an aesthetic demand, but rather about creating a solution.
A harmonious transition between what nature offers and what the human spirit needs.

"The bench is, therefore, an object of diffuse use and laden with meaning, which accompanies..."
"Significant moments in indigenous life," says the curators' text. "Approaching it from the perspective of..."
Its ritual use adds new layers of meaning, revealing even more complexity.
"Sophistication and beauty in the cultures of the indigenous peoples of Brazil."


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