"No one ever asked me to tell the story of the White people" – curatorship, video documentary for the Humboldt Forum and Ethnological Museum Berlin, 2020-2025.
"No one had ever asked me to tell the story of the white people," presents the history of the colonization of the Rio Negro, one of the two key tributaries of the Amazon River, through the artistry of Feliciano Pimentel Lana, a Desana artist also known as Sibé. The question that guided the development of the works in the center of this project sought to reverse the usual direction of anthropological research, inviting an Indigenous artist to tell the history of the White people.
Lana's watercolors weave narratives that transport us into the heart of the tropical forest, revealing the mythical origins of the Whites, their expulsion due to inappropriate behavior, and their return during the 'historical time,' when soldiers, missionaries, researchers, colonial administrators, and state officials became integral parts of indigenous realities in Brazil. This local narrative echoes a global history—the relentless advance of capitalism and its profound consequences for native peple worldwide – and the inversion of the anthropological gaze intended here allows the museum and its audience to rethink their roles in this history.
Feliciano Lana stands as one of the earliest modern indigenous artists in the Brazilian Amazon. His artistic journey began with the use of watercolors to depict the intricacies of the Desana ritual world to missionaries interested in the culture they were helping to jeopardize. Over time, Lana transitioned into chronicling traditional stories, frequently after being commissioned by writers, anthropologists, artists, and museums worldwide. In doing so, he contributed to the creation of unique imagery within Brazilian indigenous cultures. In this video portrait, he recollects his life story.
One of the outcomes of the project was the book "Feliciano Lana, Sibé: Die Geschichte der Weißen /A História dos Brancos," a bilingual publication edited by Thiago da Costa Oliveira and Andrea Scholz for the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin at the Böhlau-Verlag in 2022.
The Humboldt Forum is planning an exhibition about the work of Lana for 2025. The curatorship is shared by Andrea Scholz, Michael Dieminger, and I.
