Painting Racism: Protest Art by Contemporary Indigenous Artists

This chapter examines how two Brazilian Indigenous artists from Amazonia, Denilson Baniwa and Jaider Esbell, use their work to 'portray racism' against indigenous peoples. Although the artists themselves do not use the term racism in their work, it is our contention that their art offers a map of how racism against indigenous populations operates. I order to characterise and define racism against indigenous populations, the chapter makes use of interviews by indigenous intellectuals, artists, and activists that were collected and filmed for the project 'Racism and anti-racism in Brazil: the case of indigenous peoples'. The interviews are cited as scholarly sources, and the interviewees are not characterised as 'informants' but as scholars whose knowledge sets the frame for the article.