Mari Nagem, 41st

In the heart of Belém, the Zoobotanical Park Emílio Goeldi Paraense Museum becomes, until December 30th, a territory for listening and coexistence between species. The exhibition A river does not exist alone proposes a sensitive immersion in the interdependencies that sustain life in the Amazon and on the planet. Conceived by Tomie Ohtake Institute to dialogue with the urgent issues related to the 30th UN Conference on Climate Change (COP 30), which will take place in November 2025, in Belém, the project brings together nine artists and an architecture firm that dialogue directly with the local ecosystem, in a plot that unites , science e traditional knowledge.

Carol Pasinato, Sabrina Fontenele, Gabi Moulin, Vânia Leal and Ana Roman

The curatorship of Sabrina Fontenele e Vania Leal arises from the desire to bridge poetic and scientific practices in a context of environmental urgency. "We live in a time when the climate crisis has become an everyday reality. This exhibition is a way to imagine, together with artists and traditional knowledge, other possibilities for a more generous and sustainable existence," says Fontenele.

Among the invited artists, Rafael Segatto sees a deep affinity in the intersection of art and science. "I'm very happy to be working with this project at Goeldi because it's one of the oldest institutions in Brazil and focuses on science and education. As an artist, this interests me greatly because my work intersects these areas," he says. The son of fishermen, the artist recognizes water as the link that weaves together material and spiritual dimensions. Observing the environment, he comments on the vulture feathers scattered around: "Which museum has vultures?" he asks. In the park, they inhabit the samaúma tree near his installation, and this interspecies coexistence, according to him, is part of his work itself. "Vultures are important beings for the cycle, being decomposers. They contribute, they work alongside me," he adds.

Mari Nagem uses a recent event to create 41°C, a work that transforms scientific data into thermal imaging. "It was inspired by the historic drought of 2023, in the central Amazon, in a city called Tefé," she explains. She recalls the waters reaching unprecedented temperatures and the deaths of hundreds of dolphins: "Some parts of the river reached 41 degrees. It was an unprecedented event." She recalls that many riverside dwellers had to leave their homes because the river was impossible to navigate, as it was only mud. By transposing this climate collapse into a sensitive visualization, the artist proposes an experience of reading the scars of the territory.

Also interested in the symbolic dimension of nature, Gustavo Caboco, from the Wapichana people, presents Animal house e Anti-baptism: Victoria RegiaStanding in front of the samaúma tree that houses his installation, he explains that in Roraima, the tree is called an animal house because it's also a home for spirits. In the context of the park, the name takes on new meaning: "Here in the museum, it ends up becoming this home for various animals, right?" Caboco reflects on how a park, despite not being a forest, nor resembling one, is perhaps the closest we get to "this fiction of what a forest in the city would be. But there's a distance, right? So, remembering the animal house is like that." 

Francelino Mesquita, from Pará, presents a link between popular culture and environmental preservation. His sculptures in miriti—the traditional raw material for Abaeté toys—derive from a practice recognized as cultural heritage. "Starting in 1999, I decided to reframe it, experiment with this use of miriti in a different way. Bring it to the visual arts, bring it to the public in a more natural way," he says. For him, bringing the natural, unpainted material to the exhibition space is a way of affirming the vitality of ancestral knowledge.

Em Chant the wind and dance the tidesElaine Arruda returns to the Tijucaquara River, in Marajó, where her grandmother was born. "It's a river my grandmother left at 12 years old and came to Belém with her family to study. She never returned. So, when she turned 80, I gave her a return trip to these waters as a gift," she says. The trip, initially a family affair, became the starting point for a work on memory and territory. "You get there, there's nothing. You have a river in front of you to bathe in. You only leave when the tide comes in." The artist translates this experience into an installation that invokes the body and memory as modes of belonging.

The artists, who also include Noara Quintana, PV Dias, Sallisa Rosa, and Déba Tacana, have in common their works in direct connection to the site, incorporating elements of the landscape and natural cycles of the Zoobotanical Park. As Goeldi Museum representatives Sue Costa and Pedro Pompei state, the exhibition reaffirms the importance of creating emotional bonds with the Amazon's natural and cultural heritage: "Understanding the Amazon requires both scientific precision and poetic openness."

A river does not exist alone does not seek to illustrate nature, but to listen to it, recognizing it as a political subject, alive and in transformation.


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