Sweat. MAHKU | The creation of "Rashuaka"

During one week, the collective MAHKU (Movement of Huni Kuin Artists) created the mural Rashuaka in the exhibition "Sweat" together with four students of the Academy of Fine Arts Munich.

Inspired by the ritual chants of their ancestors, the MAHKU artists, who belong to the indigenous people of the Huni Kuin in the Amazon region, collaboratively produce ever new murals and drawings. Led by Ibã Huni Kuin, who transcribed the chants for the first time and thus made them accessible to a younger generation, the cosmology of the sung free verses is visualised.
As a people of the snake, the Huni Kuin receive visions in the language of their totem in ceremonies under the influence of the plant substance ayahuasca, which are expressed in the collective chants. Patterns derived from snake skin also characterise the traditional jewellery and skin painting of the Huni Kuin. In the detailed, figurative depictions of MAHKU, the boa, which is considered sacred and healing, as well as the geometric shapes associated with it, are therefore the all-pervading motifs.

Founded in 2011, the collective has set itself the task of preserving and updating the cultural legacy of the Huni Kuin. With a participatory and collaborative approach, MAHKU disseminates the millennia-old knowledge of the Huni Kuin and draws attention to an ongoing history of oppression, exclusion and displacement of the indigenous people.


Also see the MAHKU Editions currently on sale.