15世纪，第一批到亚马逊河旅行的欧洲人死于疾病、饥饿和与当地人的对抗之中。西班牙编年史学家加斯帕·德·卡瓦哈尔（Gaspar de Carvajal）在第一次穿越亚马逊的旅行中，将其形容为“绿色地狱”。他去世时年仅35岁。
亚马逊河如水蛇一般从南美洲蜿蜒而过，成千上万条支流中散布着村镇，在21世纪仍然保持着古老的生活方式。一些人不能融入所谓的“文明”之中，因而被称为“未接触部落”。他们生活在丛林之中，避免受到任何外来接触。
10000年前，维托托人占据了如今位于哥伦比亚的亚马逊河支流，包括伊加拉巴拉那河（Igaraparaná River）、卡克塔河（Caquetá River）、卡维纳里河（Cahuinarí River）和普图马约河（Putumayo River）之间的领土。在1900到1918年间，9万余名维托托人在“橡胶热”或“白金热”中被橡胶商人杀害。维托托人在暴力中被当作奴隶收集巴西橡胶树的树脂。经过人工处理后，将树脂储存并送往欧洲生产轮胎等不同产品。殖民者、酷刑、屠杀、强迫卖淫、奴役、残疾和麻疹等新疾病的到来，使维托托族人口从7000人锐减至1920人。从1932到1933年，哥伦比亚和秘鲁之间的冲突导致维托托人被迫迁徙至亚马逊河的其他地方，包括秘鲁、厄瓜多尔、哥伦比亚和巴西，如今人口估计为1500人。
展览“亚马逊雨林的神灵”，呈现了统治维托托人和白鹭家族的重要人物和神灵。我们可以看到蜂鸟：月亮之子，众神的使者和火的守护者；阿伊玛（Aima）：萨满祭司，可以变化为美洲虎保护家人，打败敌人；以及彩虹女神：万物之初，天空坠落到大地上，毁灭了一切新生命。造物主之父布伊纳伊玛（Moó Buinaima）请求彩虹女神帮忙支撑起天空，但是她拒绝了；布伊纳伊玛便派布伊纳雷玛（Buinairema），住在水中的烟草守护者，将她带到这个世界。布伊纳雷玛和他的战士们开始长途跋涉，穿越水域来到彩虹的领土，但是她战胜了布伊纳雷玛的勇士，并将他囚禁起来。为了换取生命，他将自己的心变成黄晶果，作为礼物送给了彩虹女神。彩虹女神吃下果实，沉入了睡梦之中。
从20世纪开始，人类学家、语言学家、历史学家和民族学家成为土著民族的代言和“知识的翻译者”。我们希望在本世纪中，我们将能够再次发声，从而将祖先留给我们的知识传承下去。
伦贝尔·亚华卡尼
北京上苑艺术馆，2018年10月19日
Gods of the Amazon
In the 15th century, the first Europeans who traveled to the Amazon River died from disease, starvation, and confrontation with the natives. Gaspar de Carvajal, Spanish chronicler who was in the first trip through the Amazon, described it as the "Green Hell". He died at the Age of 35.
The Amazon River runs along the South America like a water snake, in the hundreds of thousands of tributaries there are settled towns that still maintain their old ways of life in the 21st century. Dozens of these people cannot be part of the so-called "civilization", so they are known as the "uncontacted", living in the middle of the jungle and being protected from any alien contact.
10,000 years ago, the Uitotos occupied the territories between Igaraparaná River, Caquetá River, Cahuinarí River and Putumayo River, the tributaries of the Amazon River currently in Colombia. Between 1900 and 1918, more than 90,000 Uitotos were killed by patrons of rubber widely known as "Rubber Fever” or “White Gold Fever". The Uitotos were taken as slaves in violence to collect the resin of Hevea brasiliensis. After manual processing, the resin was stored and then sent to Europe for making different products such as tyre. The arrival of the colonizers, torture, massacres, forced prostitution, slavery, mutilation and new diseases such as measles, significantly reduced the decimated population from 7000 to 1920. From 1932 to 1933, the subsequent conflict between Colombia and Peru resulted in forced mass migration of the Uitotos to other places of the Amazon, including Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil, and its population is estimated to be 1500.
The exhibition “Gods of the Amazon”, is a selection of important characters and mythological beings who govern the Nation Uitoto and the Clan of White Heron. We can find the hummingbird: The Son of Moon, messenger of the gods and protector of the fire; the mighty Aima: a Shaman who is transformed into a Jaguar to protect his family and defeat their enemies; the Rainbow Woman: in the beginning, the Sky fell to the earth, crushing and killing every new living being. Our Father of Creator Moó Buinaima, called Rainbow Woman for support to hold the sky, but she refused; he then sent Buinairema, Guardian of the Tobacco who lived in the water, to bring her to this world. Buinairema and his warriors started a long trip through the country of water to the territories of the Rainbow, but she overcame Buinairema’s fierce warriors and took him prisoner. In exchange for his life, he transformed his heart into the fruit of caimito and gave it to Rainbow as a gift. The Rainbow took the fruit and submerged into a deep sleep.
From the 20 th century, the voice of indigenous peoples was assumed by anthropologists, linguists, historians and ethnographers who became the “translators of our knowledge ". We seek and want that voice will be returned to us in this century so that we can pass on the knowledge that our ancestors have left us.
Rember Yahuarcani
Shangyuan, Beijing/19 de octubre de 2018
