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Shamanistic Crochets Weave Tales of Indigenous Brazilian Culture

Artist Ernesto Neto hung out with indigenous Brazilians, drank Ayahuasca, and made an immersive and hypnotic installation afterwards.
Ernesto NETO, The secret silence of the healing seeds, Breathe : ) : ) : ), 2016. Cotton voile crochet, wooden knobs, wooden structure and rattle 138 x 223 x 1 3/8 inches; 350.5 x 566.4 x 3.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

Among the approximately 240 indigenous tribes and nearly one million indigenous people living in Brazil today, an estimated 7,535 of them belong to the Huni Kuin tribe, a shamanistic people residing in the western portion of the Amazon region. Fragments of the Huni Kuin’s highly spiritual way of life are interwoven into the immersive crocheted sculptures in The Serpent’s Energy Gave Birth To Humanity, a solo exhibition by Ernesto Neto at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery.

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Ernesto NETO, Installation view of The Serpent’s Energy Gave Birth To Humanity at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, October 29 – December 17, 2016. Photographer Jean Vong. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

Although the culture of indigenous Amazonians may seem antithetical to the swanky aura of a Chelsea gallery, Neto serves as a more than adequate cultural intermediary for these two disparate worlds. For the past three years, the Brazilian artist has intermittently visited the Huni Kuin people after receiving an invitation from a friend of his who had published the book Una Isi Kayawa, a healing text written entirely by members of the tribe.

Ernesto NETO, Adam-Boa-Eve, ee a e e aaa, 2016. Cotton voile crochet and wooden knobs. 74 1/2 x 129 x 1 3/8 inches; 189.2 x 327.7 x 3.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

“Three years ago, I visited the Huni and it was a revelation to me. The connection they have with nature is absolute,” Neto tells The Creators Project. “The second time I went there, I participated in a spiritual ceremony where we drank the Huni (Ayahuasca). We sat in a ring around a little candle and everything was silent except for the crickets singing. Suddenly, As we drank the Huni one by one, a member of the Huni Kuin began to chant and all the others followed him. As the force of the medicine began to come on, it felt like the Earth’s sacred door was opening for the first time.”

Ernesto NETO, Installation view of The Serpent’s Energy Gave Birth To Humanity at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, October 29 – December 17, 2016. Photographer Jean Vong. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

As his visits and participation in indigenous ceremonial rites continued over the years, Neto was profoundly affected: “It influenced not only my work, but my life. I found a new geometry, one that is less dialectic and more tender and symbiotic. My art became more silent, but a silence that is polychromatic and not monochromatic, a silence with chants,” he adds. “My understanding of society became clearer and more mythical.”

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Ernesto NETO, Flying fern, cater-boa-pillar, cleaning air, cleaning earth, 2016. Cotton voile crochet, ceramics, soil, plants (fern), 135 x 109 x 28 inches; 342.9 x 276.9 x 71.1 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

A mythical, yet highly contemporary primacy inflects all of the works in The Serpent’s Energy Gave Birth To Humanity. Neto’s earth-toned crocheted structures are both animalistic and reminiscent of microscopic organisms in form, a strange duality that causes the works to feel like indigenous products or abodes from a parallel universe, one where Western colonization never infected native culture, allowing the tribes to continue to develop culturally and technologically on their own.

Ernesto NETO, Installation view of The Serpent’s Energy Gave Birth To Humanity at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, October 29 – December 17, 2016. Photographer Jean Vong. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

In a similar vein to how the Huni Kuin welcomed Neto to partake in their own rituals, the artist invites viewers to transcend the wallflower role and physically engage with his works. Adam Boa Eve Apple Egg, a large snake-like sculpture in the center of the gallery is a traversable tunnel into a seeming rendition of the Garden of Eden without Adam or Eve, solely occupied by the serpent, tree, and forbidden fruit instead.

Ernesto NETO, Installation view of The Serpent’s Energy Gave Birth To Humanity at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, October 29 – December 17, 2016. Photographer Jean Vong. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

This emphasis on immersive interactivity is a reflection of the artist’s changed perception of contemporary culture after his indigenous visits: “Our visual sense is very powerful and goes directly into our minds, but I feel that we need to receive from our entire bodies and not just our minds,” tells Neto. “My desire is to heal myself and others, to hug people, to spread love. We need to feel things.“

Ernesto NETO, Installation view of The Serpent’s Energy Gave Birth To Humanity at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, October 29 – December 17, 2016. Photographer Jean Vong. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

The Serpent’s Energy Gave Birth To Humanity will be on view at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery until December 17th. More of Ernesto Neto’s installations can be found on the gallery’s website, here.

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