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Figure 3 - Monkey Bench by Kamalurré Mehinako
from Preservation and Ethical Commercialization of Brazilian Indigenous Art by Juliana Abdanur
by prof.melias
Figure 3
Monkey Bench by Kamalurré Mehinako
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Note. The bench was sculpted in 2000 and is a part of the private BEI Collection.
Pottery is also considered a traditional art of indigenous communities in Brazil. In
particular, those of the Waurá are functional objects such as pots and pans, while the Iny-Karajá
pottery is marked by their representation of animals and Ritxoko dolls. Waurá pans are classified
into five categories: kamalupo, makura, héjé, tsaktsak and zoomorphic (Alves and Rauber,
2019). The Waurá mastery of pottery comes from a myth of Kamalu Hai, a snake that defecated
large amounts of clay in the Batovi River, and gave the Waurá peoples exclusive knowledge on
how to use it to make pottery. As noted in the study by Alves et. al, 2019, the Waurá have
approximately 45 graphic motifs used in pottery, 13 of which can be observed in Figure 4. These
motifs were created from observing their surroundings, and each have a meaning. Made from
clay and wax, the Ritxoko dolls represent daily Iny-Karajá life and their traditions but also
symbolize the imaginary (Grassi Museum, 2018). Figure 5 shows an example of Karajá Ritxoko
dolls.
