Hãhãwpuá is the name used by the Pataxó Indigenous people of Brazil to refer to the land, the soil, or, more precisely, the territory that after colonization became known as Brazil, though it has had—and still has—many other names. Amidst all these “Brazils,” Brazil as Indigenous land is the focus of the country's pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2024, which has consequently been renamed the Hãhãwpuá Pavilion.
Through the exhibition titled Ka’a Pûera: we are walking birds, curated by Arissana Pataxó, Denilson Baniwa, and Gustavo Caboco Wapichana, the pavilion positions the strength and resistance of Brazil's Indigenous peoples as its central thread. The title derives from the homonymous installation by artist Glicéria Tupinambá, in which she charts her mission to culturally and materially reclaim the tradition of Tupinambá ceremonial cloaks. These sacred garments were plundered and are currently held by various European museums; eleven such cloaks survive globally today. Fittingly, the exhibition takes place the same year one of them is returned to Brazil after more than three centuries in Europe.
