Shirley Djukurna
Krenak
'The red paint means the blood of my ancestors. Yellow represents prosperity in life and the power of the sun. The tear signifies the cry of my people and what I'm feeling about the death of our holy river Watu. The feathers do empower me for mankind.'
'I belong to the Krenak indigenous people,
located on the riverbanks of the Watú, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Much of my traditional
knowledge was learned through the wisdom of my father, Waldemar Itchó Itchó Krenak,
around a fire pipe on the banks of the river, our sacred relative. My people, perhaps, was the main paradigm in the history of the European invasion and of the religious expansion. If we persist it is because our act of existing implies daily resistance.'
Acryl on linnen, 90 x 60 cm.
Sold. Reproductions are available.
'This morning I woke up and I started looking at the portrait you made of me. It's the first time in my life some one did such a beautiful thing. The work manages to capture my feelings and really shows how I'm feeling inside.'
About the Krenak
The Krenak people, self-designated as the Borum of Watu, is originated from the lands of the state of Minas Gerais and Bahia, Brazil. They current live in the riverbanks of Watú, also known as the Doce river.
These days they are around 630 people and for more than over
100 years they have been fighting the invasion of iron ore mining corporations and ethnocide policies.
From the distant periods of colonization to the current Brazilian State, the Borum people always remained strong, and they are an expression of the resistance.
Warrior people of the Watú, the Krenak speak the native language called Ithok Krenak.
In the year 2015 they were the only native people that saw one of their ancestors, Watú, completed
destroyed by the mining companies. The crime of Mariana spilled more the 50 million m³ of mining tailing in the river, and till these days the Vale S.A., BHP Group and
Samarco S.A. are unpunished.