The Environmental Justice, Belief Systems and Aesthetic Experiences in Latin America and the Caribbean working group, in collaboration with the Columbia Music & Arts Library, launched a new exhibition titled “Year of Water: The Amazon and Its Tributaries.” Highly focused, it presents topics related to the Amazon River, including the music of Philip Glass’s Aguas da Amazonia, the Yanomami culture in the work of shaman Davi Kopenawa, the dance of the Lia Rodrigues troupe, the photography of Claudia Andujar, as well as conceptual topics (buen vivir, extractivism, among others). The exhibition was curated by Elizabeth Davis, with additional input and technical assistance from Emily Lavins and Nick Patterson.
The working group has taken part in the Year of Water celebration through its Water, Sound, and Indigenous Film series with two events this year. The film series focuses on indigenous film productions that have engaged with local environmental struggles between indigenous communities and transnational agribusinesses, hydroelectric projects, mining corporations, systematic food injustice, local entanglements in drug wars, and localized armed conflicts. It seeks to highlight the unique, radical aesthetics and sounds we find in these documentaries through the influence of indigenous experience and understanding of sustenance, environment, nature, and conservation.
The exhibition is now on display at the Music & Arts Library, located on the 7th floor Dodge Hall.
To read more about the upcoming Water, Sound, and Indigenous Film series events, click here and here.