Visual Essay: An Artistic Residency in the city of Alter do Chão, a small community within the state of Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest.
An immersive contemporary anthropological approach to the relation between narratives and myths of the local/native life in the Lower Tapajós region of the Amazon Rainforest and their visual, more importantly bodily textile/garment significations and usages.
Key Words: Amazon Rainforest; Performative Elements; Nature; Dressings; Brazil.
This Essay has been first and foremost written after I, the author, undertook a poetic and artistic residency in the Amazon Rainforest in December 2021. More specifically I went to the village of Alter do Chão, a one-hour drive away from the city of Santarém, both located in the state of Pará, in Brazil. The Pará region where this took place is called Baixo Tapajós (Lower Tapajós), as it is located on the lower shore of the river Tapajós, a so vast river that seems almost as a sea. It is important too to bring attention to the fact that I am Brazilian, born in the city of São Paulo, Capital of the São Paulo State, in the Southeast of Brazil, which is a 5-hour flight (split in two shorter ones with a connection) to Santarém and where the reality of nature-humanity-society-politics is a very different one. This was in addition my first ever trip to the Rainforest. The Residency’s name is Campo de Heliantos and is in fact located in a further part of the Alter do Chão Village, deeper into the forest. There was also one night in which we camped in a far deeper part of the forest, having taken a 1:30 hour boat ride through the river Tapajós to then hike into the forest for another 3 hours, this is called the FloNa Tapajós, Floresta Nacional do Tapajós (Tapajós National Forest).
Figure 1. Map of Brazil with both São Paulo and the Lower Tapajós Region visibly marked.
Figure 2. Map of the Amazon Rainforest (darker brown shades on the map) with The Lower Tapajós region visibly marked.
Figure 3. Map of the Lower Tapajós region with the city of Santarém, the Alter do Chão Village and the Campo de Heliantos Residency all marked.
Figure 4. Map of the path to the FloNa from Campo de Heliantos marked on it.
Figure 5. Picture taken while the residents were on a guided hike into the FloNa Tapajós. By Gabrielle Guido, December 2021.
Figure 6. Camping Site at the top of the FloNa Tapajós where all residents spent their second night sleeping in locally woven hammocks. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021.
Figure 7. The forest’s awakening the day after the camp. By Gabrielle Guido, December 2021.
The name of the Residency programme was “Corpo: animal em extinção” which translates to “Body: animal in extinction”, and the focus of the programme was to develop language using the Amazonian body as the main object to and for communication. I have had the opportunity to experience the true local life of the insides of the Rainforest and listen to the residents of the area, as well as to learn and truly live the folklore of this particularly important town for performance during the days I’ve spent in this village, all from a perspective related to bodies in there - human and nature. At the same time, it was screamingly strong the despicable influence of politics in the area, against which the locals have established a virtuous fight to keep their customs and celebrations alive, not to speak of the nature itself that has more than ever needed attention.
Figure 8. Campo de Helianto’s constructions, all made from fallen trees found on the ground of the residency’s terrain and with woven palm tree rooftops. None of the installations had walls.
Figure 9. Ceiling made of woven Palm tree leaves by the locals that helped Graziela Brum and May construct the Campo de Heliantos Residency Installations. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021.
Figure 10. One of the residents writing in her bed on the top level of the residency’s installations, photographed from the next houses’ second floor. By Gabrielle Guido, December 2021.
I have decided to categorise my experience of the local bodily narratives into four main blocks: Living Organisms, Local Primary Sources and Rituals, the Carimbó, and the Suraras. It is my understanding that these are the main performative element sources in the local culture of this Amazonian Village, these are also all carefully chosen as elements that claim their essence to a level of garment or even costume as well as to physical props for the life led in Alter do Chão.
For the first category, Living Organisms, its choice came from the roots of many adornments and even practical cosmetic usage of nature elements and beings onto the bodies of the natives. This varies from accessories being made from tree roots, vines, palm tree peels, aquatic flowers and leaves to ants being used as mosquito repellents. Various tree resins used as perfumes, body paints and camouflage for the hunters from the native tribes.
As we expedited into the depth of the rainforest on our second day of residency in order to spend one night camped in hammocks of local making, our guides were three native men from a tribe located at the foot of that river entrance to the National Forest. One of them is a hunter, one a fisherman and the other still an apprentice to tourism related activities. Through their guidance, many of these Living-Organism-Performative-Elements have come to vogue, also a few were woven or embellished by these same three men. During the hike we took into the forest, Vavá, Cotia and Danilo, the three guides would explain to us how the usage of the Organisms there had been done in the Baixo Tapajós’ peoples’ tradition.
Figure 11. One of the residents wearing a crown hand woven by Vavá, our tour guide who is also a hunter, using the macramé technique. The material used for this is a type of vine. By Tânia Ralston, December 2021.
Figure 12. Vavá weaving a fan for one of the residents who could barely take the heat and humidity within the forest during our hike. He used the leaves from a palm tree leaf that had fallen onto the side of the track for it. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021.
Figure 13. Bird-shaped hand-woven headdress fashion by Cotia, another one of the tour guides for me to tie up my hair during our hike at the FloNa Tapajós. He used the leftover leaves from Vavá’s fan craft for this. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021.
The act of using the ants as a mosquito repellent was a remarkable one, and extremely performative on its own. This is done when a person touches the Pseudomyrmex Ant Colony (or the Taxí ant colony as they call it there), which grows towards the floor suspended as a parasite to a tree trunk (Ward, P. S.; 1993). The person allows the ants to climb onto their arm and further their whole bodies in the habit of the hunters and once they are on their skin, smash them and spread them as they were a cream. Because these ants are very small and their bites are nearly inoffensive, despite being considered violent for immediately attacking whoever touches their colony, spreading them like this is not in any way harmful to the person using them as repellents. When smashed they produce a strong, ochre-aloe vera mix of smells. What is very shocking when doing this the first time is to feel hundreds of tiny insects climbing onto one’s body, as well as to feel them biting you, even if harmlessly. That scene is also very beautiful to watch, since the ants form first a moving glove on the hand they occupy and this glove spreads out on the arm and further if the hand remains in contact with the colony, a sea of tiny alive black spots covering up a body. The Colony too is an impressive structure that seems suspended as a second clay trunk to the tree trunk it’s built on. The instinctive protection attack-mode the ants embody once their colony is touched together with the smashing of them by the person touching it is at the same time a great metaphor for the life and death all around in the Rainforest. This duality that is the ever-questionable cycle generator reminds visitors of the area that it exists at all moments, which affects every single relationship therein held.
Figure 14. One of the residents trying out the ant repellent, having just touched the Colony, hence the black moving glove not yet formed by the ants. By Tânia Ralston, December 2021.
When it comes to the resin being used as body paint, there is a whole universe to this in which all native tribes have their own motives to paint on their bodies accordingly to the ritual they are performing at the time (body painting happened historically more often for fight and rituals, not on day-to-day life as much). We too, at the residency collected the resins and the fruits whose colours are typical body paints in Amazonian tradition: Urucum (annatto) seeds, Jenipapo (genipap) fruit and carbon mixed with tree resins (Maçaraduba – Bullet Wood - and Ingá do Mato – Inga Striata - trees). As we performed the body painting ritual, we discovered the symbology of the act of painting itself, as a preparation to something big coming up, it is a very bodily feeling. These natural dyes become a second skin attached to one’s body to perform a certain action. This action is already defined through the graphisms used for the painting and understood by all members of that society as soon as they see the painted person. Such figures are chosen specifically for each person and painted on their skin by the group’s Spiritual Leader and their disciples, usually the eldest or the wisest in the traditions present and their assistants. (Barocas, Reis, Reis, Dias and Gil; 2009).
Figure 15. Maçaranduba (Bullet Wood) Trunk cut by Cotia to show us how the resin of the tree was used as body paint. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021.
Figure 16. Body Painting with Jenipapo by the Suraras.
Figure 17. Body Painting workshop led by the Suraras. Screenshot of the Clip “Conversa de Suraras (Suraras’ Conversation)”.
Figure 18. Facial Painting with Jenipapo done by the Suraras. Screenshot of their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Surara Warrior)”.
Lastly on this category, even without weaving or embellishing the natural elements, one can still create garment props just by positioning some very interesting findings as they occupy nature. Together with the writer and photographer Tânia Ralston we’ve developed a series of bird-beak-masks and headdresses using only Palm tree trunk peels that were already dry, at time we made use also of the vine crown made by Vavá.
Figure 19. Crown made from dry palm tree trunk peels and the vine tiara previously shown in the category. By Tânia Ralston, December 2021.
Figure 20. Bird-Beek-Mask created by me and Tânia Ralston using dry palm tree trunk peels. By Tânia Ralston, December 2021.
Coming back from our in-depth experience at the FloNa Tapajós, we’ve reached a house where all natives were selling their handicrafts made from seeds and latex, both materials fund in abundance at the region. Attached to this store was the workshop space where these products were made and where the latex was painted, all very rustic and small. This is where I first came across the second category of performative elements, Local Primary Sources and Rituals, many of the products sold were in fact versions of garments worn by the natives in their traditions and rituals.
Figure 21. Dona Lourdes and Priscila standing in front of the jewellery (also wearing some necklaces) and decoration pieces they sold at the store on the way down the FloNa, made by them and other women who lived in their tribe. Most items are made of latex and seeds, there were also some oils, essences and baskets being sold. By Gabrielle Guido, December 2021.
Figure 22. Necklaces sold at the store on the way back from FloNa made locally by the tribe’s women. Some are made from seeds, some from latex cuts and some from both things. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021.
Figure 23. Latex painting and drying workshop area, attached to the shop depicted above. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021.
Figure 24. Sewing machines and shoe base at the workshop where products sold at the store were made, attached to the store. The tribeswomen worked on their crafts from this space, the latex dying and drying part wing and from stools outside the construction where the store is. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021.
The smallest of seeds have for centuries been woven into colourful belts, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. by their tribes as identification props, so have beads. Each tribe, as goes with the body painting, has their patterns and in this case as well their colours of representation. These adornments often also contain feathers in them. Depending on the location also larger seeds were peeled and used for jewellery making, which have now been reinvented as products that would generate a small income for the women in the native tribes once sold. These accessories represent a great deal politically, considering the tribes ever growing need to use money to subside, especially in times when fishermen and hunters find less prays and as a hostile government as the extreme right wing one (during December 2021, when this all took place) take further into the lands of natives for selling the nature they once protected to big corporations.
Figure 25. Vavá’s hand weaving, wearing a bracelet made of very typical beads in the colours of his tribe: Borari, one that historically occupied the Lower Tapajós region. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021.
Figure 26. Earring made by the Suraras of the same sort of typical beds in Vava’s bracelets.
Figure 27. One of the components of the Suraras’ band wearing a feather and seed headpiece in their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Surara Warrior)”.
In Alter do Chão there is also a big cultural belief in the muiraquitã, the “toad with a lip ring” that was engraved in jade of the rivers by the Amazons as they emerged from those rivers to gift the native warriors their amulets, on the last full moon night anticipating fights. These are nowadays often crafted from wood or clay and have only power of protection to the one who wears it if having been gifted to them. The act of giving this worn amulet is one of care and fight in the Baixo Tapajós culture nowadays and one can find several different muiraquitãs made of many local raw materials. The muiraquitã does also not need to be shaped as a frog in the tradition, “The stone is crafted, taking shape of a Batrachian, fish chelonian, cylinder with furrows to adjust the chord that suspends it to the neck”[1] according to the Brazilian Folklore expert Câmara Cascudo.
Figure 28. Different muiraquitãs made from different green stones in their possible shapes.
Figure 29. This is the muiraquitã that I was given by the Tapajós ceramics master in Santarém, Jefferson Paiva, it is sculpt from ceramics and painted green.
The Carimbó is the third classification and within it there is a rich music, dance, costume, instrumental and celebratory heritage to be put forward. The Carimbó in recognised as an official Brazilian Cultural Patrimony. It is a folkloric universe of mainly dance and music. The residents’ group was invited to the house of one amongst five carimbó masters in Alter do Chão, Silvan Galvão.
Figure 30. Carimbó master Silvan Galvão in his front porch explaining the group about how the carimbós (carimbó drums) are made. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021.
The house was all built by Galvão and his children, all wall paints were naturally developed by them, there were hammocks all around, the house was partially in the style of typical Baixo Tapajós houses, with no walls and a bamboo leaf woven ceiling, as were the ones in the residency Campo de Heliantos, and partially constructed with a type of clay used in housing in the north and northeast of Brazil. The residency was also used to receive people from all over the world who were interested in Carimbó, where Silvan Galvão and the other masters would gather and teach their knowledge.
Figure 31. Master Silvan Galvão’s House, named Casa muiraquitã, seen from outside its gates.
Figure 32. Most typical carimbó instruments exhibited in casa muiraquitã together with hand-made baskets crafted locally.
Figure 33. The back porch of casa muiraquitã with handmade hammocks, wall paint and wall decoration all locally by Silvan Galvão and his children.
What we came to learn from this master is that Carimbó is a rhythm in music very marked by the big drums sculpt from fallen tree trunks with holes crafted onto them and leather obtained from hunts, these drums are the actual Carimbós, and give name to all the cultural tradition of its rhythm. The maracas made from gourds and hand-painted are also important Carimbó instruments. The dance of this rhythm is a very easy one in basic technicality, with a simple basic step following the beat, however it is a dance historically performed in mating rituals and thus contains lots of turns. Câmara Cascudo mentions in his Dictionary of Brazilian Folklore that the Carimbó is danced all throughout the State of Pará and the northern part of the State of Tocantins, as well as the west part of the Maranhão State, which was confirmed by Silvan Galvão as the original region of Carimbó. Its events take place both inside land and at the beaches. The origins of Carimbó are African according Cascudo, Galvão, and Raimundo Morais but this cultural patrimony has adapted during the times and summed to it a deep mixed raced Brazilian culture from the north of the country, as well as many native habits of the area.
Figure 34. Suraras playing the carimbós in their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Surara Warrior)”.
Figure 35. Maracas that are the second key instrument of the carimbó rhythm, also played by one of the Suraras in their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Suarara Warrior)”.
The women wear long wide round skirts made from “chita” a Brazilian cotton weft printed with colourful floral patterns. They wear lots of feathers and seeds adornments, and the more professional dancers also wear head pieces put together from typical dressings of the area. Men are less adorned, but as women, they can wear ankle bracelets (this is usually danced barefoot or with thin sandals) or other adornments. The colourful short sleeved shirt and the carimbó hats (round, not too wide hats with a cowboy head and maybe a feather pendant hanging from it) are typically seen on men too.
Figure 36. Chita, the cotton fabric commonly used to make the round carimbó skirts, usually died with floral vivid patterns.
Figure 37. Suraras in their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Surara Warrior)” all wearing the carimbó skirt.
Every Thursday evening in the Village of Alter do Chão, at the main square the Carimbó night takes place, and the whole town and neighbour ones come together to celebrate, listen and dance to Carimbó. Carimbó is also present in every church related or not event in the area and as those happen the public travels – often through the rivers- to reach here or there and enjoy carimbó. On Thursday nights, at one point there are always professional carimbó dance performances where the public dances as people give space and watch the advocates of carimbó show them how that mating dance used to be.
Figure 38. Professional Carimbó dancers with their long round skirts at the local weekly Carimbó event. Vitória Neiva, December 2021.
Câmara Cascudo, in his dictionary of Brazilian Folklore also comments on the dance that take place on the Carimbó events, he defines a particular moment of the dance that is key about the use of the big round carimbó skirt by the main dancer inside the circle:
“The typical step is the ballerina, in a certain moment, turning around herself, violently manipulating her garment to throw the hem of her skirt over the closest partner, covering him and causing hilarity. If she throws the skirt and fails to cover the person she aimed for, she is substituted by another dancer in the position she occupied on the circle”. [2]
Figure 39. Residents and locals all together dancing carimbó at the Carimbó Thursday in the Alter do Chão square. By Ítalo Barsileiro, December 2021.
In closing the four brackets of performance experiences are the Suraras do Tapajós, a group of feminist native and local women whose aim is to bring forward female contributions to the Western Pará – Lower Tapajós culture scene. They have branched out to a larger cause, acting in all matters indigenous related in the area and sharing their feminine spiritual and ancestral knowledge, however they are still deeply rooted in the cultural feminine actions within there. They have learned the traditional embroideries, weavings, symbology from their elders and have given it a contemporary turn, especially with graphisms that they now use as print blocks and marketing communication to their movement.
Figure 40. Collage by the Suraras for their website communication, using pictures and pattern of the Lower Tapajós.
Figure 41. Surara reunion image, with graphisms typical to their local body painting.
Figure 42. Collage by the Suraras of a picture of them holding onto a strip that says “This is Indigenous Land”[1].
To add to that, the Suraras raised a big female rights movement within Carimbó itself and revolutionised the performances at those events so they would prioritise the women who had until their forthcoming been kept on the second plan, especially as band members and singers. The five carimbó masters are yet to add a woman to their group, but there are female successions that for the first time represent powerful contenders to the men.
Figure 43. Surara band playing in their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Surara Warrior)”.
Figure 44. Front Image of the Surara’s website welcoming visitors with a picture of their band on the back of a collage of various local graphisms and elements.
To finalise with the Suraras’ category, they also teach many workshops on the various garments/adornments techniques and have a store of locally manufactured products that come with the story of the women who made them.
Figure 45. Hand-painted purse sold and made by the Suraras.
Figure 46. Results of workshop led by the Suraras on feather head piece making, as well as block printing local graphisms.
All this performance and cultural legacy I have come across during my time in Alter do Chão has opened my eyes to how little the deep Brazilian culture is taught even inside our country in the major cities, as well as to how badly treated the very few who master such cultures are. The richness in techniques of manufacture, symbology and ritualistic of every human-nature interaction in the entire Amazonian Rainforest is a knowledge that must not go unnoticed. It is of sum importance to share such field research with the international community, and I am very grateful for the space to do so in this publication. The ancestry that is alive and breathing in the lungs of our world is felt as soon as one steps off the plane or boat that took them there, both bodily and through a more essential matter and the feeling images taken in that territory emanate is singular.
List of Figures
Figure 1. Map of Brazil with both São Paulo and the Lower Tapajós Region visibly marked. [Image] Available in: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1fyTnEZ150fheghgrPDlQgoeP1IoX57s&usp=sharing. Accessed 28th October 2022. 1
Figure 2. Map of the Amazon Rainforest (darker brown shades on the map) with The Lower Tapajós region visibly marked. [Image] Available in: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1fyTnEZ150fheghgrPDlQgoeP1IoX57s&usp=sharing. Accessed 28th October 2022. 2
Figure 3. Map of the Lower Tapajós region with the city of Santarém, the Alter do Chão Village and the Campo de Heliantos Residency all marked. [Image] Available in: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1fyTnEZ150fheghgrPDlQgoeP1IoX57s&usp=sharing. Accessed 28th October 2022. 2
Figure 4. Map of the path to the FloNa from Campo de Heliantos marked on it. [Image] Available in: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1fyTnEZ150fheghgrPDlQgoeP1IoX57s&usp=sharing. Accessed 28th October 2022. 2
Figure 5. Picture taken while the residents were on a guided hike into the FloNa Tapajós. By Gabrielle Guido, December 2021. 3
Figure 6. Camping Site at the top of the FloNa Tapajós where all residents spent their second night sleeping in locally woven hammocks. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021. 3
Figure 7. The forest’s awakening the day after the camp. By Gabrielle Guido, December 2021. 3
Figure 8. Campo de Helianto’s constructions, all made from fallen trees found on the ground of the residency’s terrain and with woven palm tree rooftops. None of the installations had walls. [Image] Available in: http://www.campodeheliantos.com.br/. Accessed 27th of October 2022. 4
Figure 9. Ceiling made of woven Palm tree leaves by the locals that helped Graziela Brum and May construct the Campo de Heliantos Residency Installations. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021. 4
Figure 10. One of the residents writing in her bed on the top level of the residency’s installations, photographed from the next houses’ second floor. By Gabrielle Guido, December 2021. 5
Figure 11. One of the residents wearing a crown hand woven by Vavá, our tour guide who is also a hunter, using the macramé technique. The material used for this is a type of vine. By Tânia Ralston, December 2021. 6
Figure 12. Vavá weaving a fan for one of the residents who could barely take the heat and humidity within the forest during our hike. He used the leaves from a palm tree leaf that had fallen onto the side of the track for it. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021. 6
Figure 13. Bird-shaped hand-woven headdress fashion by Cotia, another one of the tour guides for me to tie up my hair during our hike at the FloNa Tapajós. He used the leftover leaves from Vavá’s fan craft for this. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021. 7
Figure 14. One of the residents trying out the ant repellent, having just touched the Colony, hence the black moving glove not yet formed by the ants. By Tânia Ralston, December 2021. 8
Figure 15. Maçaranduba (Bullet Wood) Trunk cut by Cotia to show us how the resin of the tree was used as body paint. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021. 9
Figure 16. Body Painting with Jenipapo by the Suraras. [Image] Available in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcKIqW-YSKw&t=4s. Acessed 3rd of October 2022. 9
Figure 17. Body Painting workshop led by the Suraras. Screenshot of the Clip “Conversa de Suraras (Suraras’ Conversation)”. [Image] Available in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcKIqW-YSKw&t=4s. Accessed 3rd of October 2022. 10
Figure 18. Facial Painting with Jenipapo done by the Suraras. Screenshot of their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Surara Warrior)”. [Image] Available in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8xQjqCG-c8. Accessed 1st of October 2022. 10
Figure 19. Crown made from dry palm tree trunk peels and the vine tiara previously shown in the category. By Tânia Ralston, December 2021. 11
Figure 20. Bird-Beek-Mask created by me and Tânia Ralston using dry palm tree trunk peels. By Tânia Ralston, December 2021. 11
Figure 21. Dona Lourdes and Priscila standing in front of the jewellery (also wearing some necklaces) and decoration pieces they sold at the store on the way down the FloNa, made by them and other women who lived in their tribe. Most items are made of latex and seeds, there were also some oils, essences and baskets being sold. By Gabrielle Guido, December 2021. 12
Figure 22. Necklaces sold at the store on the way back from FloNa made locally by the tribe’s women. Some are made from seeds, some from latex cuts and some from both things. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021. 12
Figure 23. Latex painting and drying workshop area, attached to the shop depicted above. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021. 13
Figure 24. Sewing machines and shoe base at the workshop where products sold at the store were made, attached to the store. The tribeswomen worked on their crafts from this space, the latex dying and drying part wing and from stools outside the construction where the store is. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021. 13
Figure 25. Vavá’s hand weaving, wearing a bracelet made of very typical beads in the colours of his tribe: Borari, one that historically occupied the Lower Tapajós region. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021. 14
Figure 26. Earring made by the Suraras of the same sort of typical beds in Vava’s bracelets. [Image] Available in: https://surarasdotapajos.org.br/?playlist=d03b617&video=7ac15f2. Accessed 3rd of October 2022. 14
Figure 27. One of the components of the Suraras’ band wearing a feather and seed headpiece in their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Surara Warrior)”. [Image] Available in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8xQjqCG-c8. Accessed 1st of October 2022. 15
Figure 28. Different muiraquitãs made from different green stones in their possible shapes. [Image] Available in: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Muiraquitas-from-the-collection-of-the-Para-State-Museu-do-Encontro-Meeting-Museum-in_fig2_262623749. Accessed 28th of October 2022. 15
Figure 29. This is the muiraquitã that I was given by the Tapajós ceramics master in Santarém, Jefferson Paiva, it is sculpt from ceramics and painted green. Personal Archive. 16
Figure 30. Carimbó master Silvan Galvão in his front porch explaining the group about how the carimbós (carimbó drums) are made. By Gabriela Lotaif, December 2021. 16
Figure 31. Master Silvan Galvão’s House, named Casa muiraquitã, seen from outside its gates. [Image] Available in: https://www.facebook.com/casamuiraquita/. Accessed 27th of October 2022. 17
Figure 32. Most typical carimbó instruments exhibited in casa muiraquitã together with hand-made baskets crafted locally. [Image] Available in: https://www.facebook.com/casamuiraquita/. Accessed 27th of October 2022. 17
Figure 33. The back porch of casa muiraquitã with handmade hammocks, wall paint and wall decoration all locally by Silvan Galvão and his children. [Image] Available in: https://www.facebook.com/casamuiraquita/. Accessed 27th of October 2022. 18
Figure 34. Suraras playing the carimbós in their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Surara Warrior)”. [Image] Available in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8xQjqCG-c8. Accessed 1st of October 2022. 19
Figure 35. Maracas that are the second key instrument of the carimbó rhythm, also played by one of the Suraras in their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Suarara Warrior)”. [Image] Available in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8xQjqCG-c8. Accessed 1st of October 2022. 19
Figure 36. Chita, the cotton fabric commonly used to make the round carimbó skirts, usually died with floral vivid patterns. Personal Archive. 20
Figure 37. Suraras in their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Surara Warrior)” all wearing the carimbó skirt. [Image] Available in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8xQjqCG-c8. Accessed 1st of October 2022. 20
Figure 38. Professional Carimbó dancers with their long round skirts at the local weekly Carimbó event. Vitória Neiva, December 2021. 21
Figure 39. Residents and locals all together dancing carimbó at the Carimbó Thursday in the Alter do Chão square. By Ítalo Barsileiro, December 2021. 21
Figure 40. Collage by the Suraras for their website communication, using pictures and pattern of the Lower Tapajós. [Image] Available in: https://surarasdotapajos.org.br/. Accessed 30th of October 2022. 22
Figure 41. Surara reunion image, with graphisms typical to their local body painting. [Image] Available in: https://surarasdotapajos.org.br/. Accessed 30th of October 2022. 22
Figure 42. Collage by the Suraras of a picture of them holding onto a strip that says “This is Indigenous Land”. [Image] Available in: https://surarasdotapajos.org.br/. Accessed 30th of October 2022. 23
Figure 43. Surara band playing in their videoclip “Guerreira Surara (Surara Warrior)”. [Image] Available in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8xQjqCG-c8. Accessed 1st of October 2022. 23
Figure 44. Front Image of the Surara’s website welcoming visitors with a picture of their band on the back of a collage of various local graphisms and elements. [Image] Available in: https://surarasdotapajos.org.br/. Accessed 30th of October 2022. 23
Figure 45. Hand-painted purse sold and made by the Suraras. [Image] Available in: https://surarasdotapajos.org.br/. Accessed 30th of October 2022. 24
Figure 46. Results of workshop led by the Suraras on feather head piece making, as well as block printing local graphisms. [Image] Available in: https://surarasdotapajos.org.br/. Accessed 30th of October 2022. 24
Sources
Websites
Campo de Heliantos Residency. [Online] Available in: http://www.campodeheliantos.com.br/. Accessed 27th of October 2022.
FunBio. [Online] Available in: https://www.funbio.org.br/. Accessed 3rd of October 2022.
Suraras. [Online] Available in: https://surarasdotapajos.org.br/. Accessed 30th of October 2022.
Tomar Corpo. Imersão Corpo: animal em extinção. [Online] Available in: https://www.tomarcorpo.com.br/2021/10/tomar-corpo-amazonia-imersao-zoo.html?m=0. Accessed 4th of October 2022.
Bibliography
Books
Cascudo, L. (1971). Dicionário do folclore brasileiro. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. De Ouro.
Morais, R. (2013). O meu dicionário de cousas da Amazônia. Brasília: Senado Federal, Conselho Editorial.
Articles
Barocas, D., Reis, E.O.S., Reis, J.R., Dias, R.A.O.S., Gil, T.E. (2009). O grafismo da pintura corporal indígena. Ubatuba: Universidade Metropolitana de Santos, Faculdade de Educação e Ciências Humanas, Licenciatura em Artes Visuais. [Online] Available in: https://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=https://periodicosunimes.unimesvirtual.com.br/index.php/paideia/article/download/222/227&hl=en&sa=T&oi=gsb-gga&ct=res&cd=0&d=9074779599364505839&ei=v7c-Y_WQOZeTy9YPirawgAg&scisig=AAGBfm1Ip0Y4AFkk9cwHgEpZWnmHQXWgbg . Accessed 3rd of October 2022.
Huertas, B.M. (2014). O Carimbó: cultural tradicional paraense, patrimonio immaterial do Brasil. São Paulo, SP: Unversidade de São Paulo. [Online] Available in: https://www.revistas.usp.br/cpc/article/view/74966. Accessed 29th of October 2022.
Sousa, E.L., Araújo, K. S., Sena, C.D.R., Sousa, L.C., Melo, M.H.F. (2021). Bodies, painting and knowledge Gavião. Campo Grande, MS: Tellus. [Online] Available in: https://tellusucdb.emnuvens.com.br/tellus/article/view/717/778. Accessed 29th of October 2022.
Ward, P. S. (1993). Systematic Studies on Pseudomyrmex acacia-ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Pseudomyrmecinae). Davis, CA, 96616: Department of Entomology, University of California. [Online] Available in; http://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/http://antbase.org/ants/publications/2958/2958.pdf. Accessed 3rd of October 2022.
[1] Free Translation from Brazilian Portuguese by the author.