Father and son, artists and guardians of Amazonian tradition, Santiago and Rember Yahuarcani transform art into a dialogue between ancestral myths and global challenges, intertwining nature, spirituality, and cultural identity.
Representatives of a profound and distant culture, Santiago and Rember Yahuarcani bring with them the ancestral power of their Amazonian roots. Father and son, both members of the Uitoto community of Peru, present a body of work that intertwines mythology, history, and contemporary struggles, transforming art into a powerful medium of storytelling and resistance.
The Uitoto are an Indigenous group native to the Amazon, primarily concentrated in certain regions of Colombia and northern Peru. Their spiritual world revolves around a complex network of deities connected to natural elements, animals, plants, and atmospheric phenomena that protect and guide the community. Oral traditions, passed down through stories, songs, and dances, form the heart of Uitoto culture, with art playing a fundamental role within these traditions.
The works of Santiago and Rember Yahuarcani, while deeply rooted in their shared cultural heritage, stand out for their complementary approaches. Santiago Yahuarcani, the patriarch of the family and a revered guardian of Uitoto artistic tradition, represents the voice of the ancestors, generations who lived in harmony with the forest. His works celebrate the beauty of nature and the sacred bond the Uitoto people maintain with it, evoking the cycles of nature, the balance between humans and the environment, and the importance of collective memory. His paintings and sculptures are imbued with a sense of sacredness and ritual, transforming art into a form of prayer, a homage to the spirits and the earth. Beside him, Rember Yahuarcani, his son and disciple, carries forward the Uitoto culture but reshapes it through a personal and contemporary lens. While he continues to tell the stories of the ancestors, his art becomes a bridge between two worlds: the realm of Indigenous legends and the pressing global issues of climate crisis, deforestation, and cultural identity in a globalized world. Rember uses painting, sculpture, and installations to create a visual narrative where the spirits of the forest are not just guardians of the past but essential actors in confronting the future.
At the Arsenale, the works of Santiago and Rember Yahuarcani engage in a dialogue within a space that feels anchored in an ancient time, offering a reflection on the connection between humanity and nature and on how Indigenous traditions can provide profound insights into contemporary challenges. In an era of environmental crisis and disconnection from cultural roots, their work invites us to pause, listen, and reflect on what we are losing and what we can still save. Their voices, like those of the forest they represent, are powerful, alive, and necessary.
