My breath of life

Aimema Uai

Painting - Oil, wito, achote, curcuma and ambil on fabric

138 x 97 cm

During the summer of 1996 my parents made a journey on canoe from the head of the river Igara-paraná (La Chorrera) down the stream for one day to visit the elders, my mom was pregnant with me and on that night while they were crossing a great lake a gigantic anaconda felt our heat and tried to intervene to affect our journey. But they managed to get out from there. A couple hours later, at 2 am they had to stop and stay at the riverside because my mother had to birth me. There the strength of my mother was complemented with the energy of the pure air, the bird's sounds, the water and the animals from the jungle. That is my mother Rait+nizai (herb with strong roots that abounds in nature) and represents the verb of life and abundance, like the sweet manioc and mother Koka in our territory.