{"id":14777,"date":"2025-08-28T16:22:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T16:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/28\/sara-flores-and-the-shipibo-journey-from-the-amazon-to-venice\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T16:22:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T16:22:26","slug":"sara-flores-and-the-shipibo-journey-from-the-amazon-to-venice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/28\/sara-flores-and-the-shipibo-journey-from-the-amazon-to-venice\/","title":{"rendered":"Sara Flores and the Shipibo Journey from the Amazon to Venice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sara Flores, Non Nete (A Flag for the Shipibo Nation)<\/em>, 2025. Single-channel video, 3:33 minutes, color, sound, on a loop. Produced by The Shipibo-Conibo Center, NY. Courtesy the artist; The Shipibo-Conibo Center, NY; White Cube, London<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In recent biennials and exhibitions, there has been a shift in interest toward Indigenous and precolonial practices and ancestral spiritualities that offer a sharp contrast to a failing Western model built on anthropocentric, individualistic materialism and extractivism. More Indigenous artists are entering the art world, no longer confined to the biased ethnographic lens that long shaped the Western narrative, but finally being recognized as living cultures and contemporary practices, with much to teach the rest of us.<\/p>\n

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Sara Flores<\/a>, a Peruvian artist from the Shipibo-Konibo community, has risen to international acclaim in recent years and is now represented by major galleries including White Cube and Clearing. In recent months, her pieces have been acquired by leading New York institutions, including the Met and the Guggenheim, while other major museums have already added her work to their collections (Tate London, the Hammer Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in San Francisco among them).<\/p>\n

For Matteo Norzi<\/a>, Flores\u2019s agent, these institutional acquisitions reflect a growing need for a paradigm shift. \u201cIt has been a perfect storm,\u201d he tells Observer, reflecting on how, with the onset of COVID, people stopped and reconnected with the earth. At the same time, the growth of social media heightened awareness of mental health issues, while psychedelic medicine began to see a resurgence<\/a>. \u201cAll these things have created a new possibility for Indigenous art.\u201d Amid the failure of politics\u2014both right and left\u2014on environmental and societal matters, people are turning to these Indigenous ideas with hope. \u201cI think this is part of a positive search for a paradigm shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we were finalizing this article, Norzi received word that Flores had been selected to represent Peru in the forthcoming Venice Biennale, with a presentation called \u201cFrom Other Worlds,\u201d which he will curate with Issela Ccoyllo. Behind the artist\u2019s rise is a story of human connection and solidarity that spans continents\u2014a tale of a grassroots initiative that blends cultural preservation, promotion and diplomacy, beginning with an individual creative journey and expanding to embrace the fate of an entire community and its ancient yet still vibrant culture.<\/p>\n

Norzi, an artist and filmmaker, came to work with Sara (and to dedicate himself to the Shipibo community) after embarking upon a radical life change. Years ago, he traveled to the Amazon for an ayahuasca retreat with a friend, Argentinian artist Leonor Caraballo<\/a>. On that trip, both realized they were chasing illusions in the art world\u2014things they could never truly grasp and that would never truly satisfy them. \u201cFirst, there was that disconnection from the art world, and then we discovered an incredible story, a magical place and the energy to make a film.\u201d At the same time, Caraballo also learned of a terminal illness during an ayahuasca vision, and the film they were making evolved into the story of a woman from the West who travels to the Amazon seeking a miracle through alternative therapies with Amazonian plants. Titled Icarus<\/i>, it was the product of their deep exploration of Indigenous Shipibo-Konibo culture in the Peruvian Amazon; it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016.<\/p>\n

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Sara Flores and Matteo Norzi. Sara Flores and Matteo Norzi, Ucayali, Peru 2025 Photo by Olivier Babin.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe threw ourselves into this cinematic adventure, which became a quest to collect and represent Indigenous artists in the field of contemporary art, almost as a strategy to demonstrate that Indigenous ideas are contemporary even outside the art world,\u201d Norzi recounts, describing what would become a longer-term mission with the Shipibo community.<\/p>\n

That first experience also made him aware of the many obstacles\u2014visa issues, stereotypes, bureaucracy\u2014that the Shipibo faced. These and other barriers prevented them from bringing their art and culture to international audiences, especially in the wider global art world. From that moment, Norzi decided to serve as a bridge and intermediary, promoting and preserving the creative lifeways and knowledge of the Shipibo-Conibo people of the Peruvian Amazon through the Shipibo Conibo Center, founded in Harlem. The center also became a way to commemorate and honor his friend\u2019s visionary spirit after her passing from cancer soon after.<\/p>\n

From the outset, Norzi\u2019s primary goal was to challenge colonial paradigms and instead support Indigenous sovereignty and autonomy, bridging the realms of art, healing, ecology and politics to show how Shipibo-Konibo culture and lifeways can serve as epistemic, academic and practical alternatives to the failures of the Western and Eurocentric worldview.<\/p>\n

The focus on Indigenous self-determination and territorial sovereignty is particularly central to the Shipibo Conibo Center. At the heart of its mission is the conviction that Indigenous identity is not confined to a romanticized past but is anchored in a technologically advanced and sustainable future. \u201cI think it\u2019s interesting to look at Indigenous culture from a postmodern perspective and recognize that it survived despite 500 years of colonialism. It is still alive and can have an effect on the future,\u201d asserts Norzi. \u201cThe most important thing is to stop associating them with something that no longer exists and look at what is present.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVisual arts, music and ethnobotanical research are inseparable realms for the Shipibo-Konibo lifeway,\u201d he explains. \u201cOnce we identified these areas of action, we aimed to address all artistic issues with political awareness, and all organizational problems with creativity and the way artists work. In this way, we\u2019ve also tried to break and reinvent the traditional paradigms of philanthropy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Importantly, the center\u2019s model\u2014both operational and economic\u2014was conceived in constant consultation with community members. \u201cI think of a collective made up of all my friends, indigenous leaders, collaborators, lawyers, artists,\u201d Norzi says. \u201cI feel part of their family because they make me feel that way, but in some way, it\u2019s always been more about what we\u2019ve learned than what we had to teach.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sara Flores at work. Photo credit: Helena De Bragan\u00e7a \u00a92023 Courtesy: The Shipibo Conibo Center, NY<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What Norzi brought to the Shipibo was his experience and expertise in the art world. Yet, he admits that during filming, while guiding the shamans in front of the camera, the Shipibo were, in turn, directing them. \u201cIn some way, there\u2019s no real hierarchy; everything is much more equitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is on this principle of reciprocity that he bases his work. \u201cThere is a message that guides the Shipibo-Konibo: we are all part of the same family, and this idea of tribe extends to animals, plants, spirits, forests,\u201d he explains. \u201cFrom this, it somehow becomes natural to talk about \u2018activism,\u2019 or combining art and activism, because the two things are not distinguishable from the indigenous perspective. The idea is that the artist is a \u2018healer,\u2019 a person who takes care, a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

A key source of fundraising for the Shipibo Conibo Center has been the sale of the Shipibo people\u2019s creative output abroad, which has led to their art finding its place in the contemporary market. In addition to giving Sara Flores\u2019s work international visibility, Norzi is also working with other artists from the community, including Celia Vasquez Yui, who has been showcased with Salon 94. The profits from these sales are distributed equally between the artists and the community.<\/p>\n

Though the Shipibo value mutual exchange and do not place importance on possessions or individualism, the center\u2019s model still seeks to recognize individual effort and authorship. \u201cWe always talk about collective knowledge when discussing Indigenous knowledge, and there\u2019s truth in that: many of these aspects are collective,\u201d Norzi says. \u201cBut talking about collective knowledge has also facilitated expropriation because if it belongs to everyone, it seems like it belongs to no one.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this reason, the center has prioritized authorship. When Flores collaborated on a recent collection with Dior, it was not the Shipibo people who collaborated but Flores as an individual. \u201cThere\u2019s a recognition of the individual effort and the energy that drives Sara every morning to go to the studio and paint,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Regarding the division of earnings, they asked the artist to define her own idea of reciprocity. With Flores, they arrived at a fair distribution that supports her, the school and Indigenous organizations fighting for territorial resistance. \u201cWe call it a reciprocity agreement, a pact of solidarity, so that art and activism and the struggle for Indigenous sovereignty cannot be separated.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that spirit, even when collectors or institutions acquire works by these artists, Norzi stresses the importance of the fact that they are supporting living cultures and communities. \u201cIt\u2019s important that those who buy are not just doing so out of the desire to possess an object but also to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sara Flores, Untitled (Pei Ani Maya Kene)<\/em>, 2025. Theo Christelis<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Norzi acknowledges that he didn\u2019t invent this model from scratch but drew inspiration from regulations already in place for the trade and circulation of Aboriginal artists in Australia<\/a>, adapting them to the specific context of Shipibo-Konibo culture.<\/p>\n

When asked if this model could be replicated by gallerists to more fairly bring contemporary Indigenous artistic expressions to the international art world, Norzi recognizes the challenges\u2014primarily difficulties related to the pace and structure of today\u2019s global art industry. \u201cYou need to spend a lot of time with the artists and with the community, and I believe the current art system simply doesn\u2019t allow that. An artist liaison doesn\u2019t have the time to go into the forest and immerse themselves in the culture and community as we do. It was possible for us because we also made a radical life decision to disconnect from FOMO, and we decided to give ourselves the space to take long pauses and embrace their lifeways and pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Change at the institutional level<\/h3>\n

It has now been more than a decade since the Shipibo Conibo Center launched,and many changes have taken place. \u201cIt\u2019s been a process of discovering new things, learning from mistakes, and we\u2019ve learned to make others. I can\u2019t tell you that at the beginning we knew what we were doing, but we had a strong vision,\u201d Norzi admits.<\/p>\n

From the start, most of the Shipibo-Conibo population has been very open to collaboration. Their philosophy of life, he explains, already conceives of existence as continuous vital evolution\u2014a flowing process that embraces change and innovation. \u201cThe Shipibo are open to change because they have such a strong identity that they don\u2019t fear the future. Instead, they want to claim their space, a place in the future. Of course, there are 35,000 Shipibo, so there are also very different opinions. Some are more conservative, others are more open, but overall, I must say it\u2019s always a joy to encounter that kind of openness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flores\u2019s practice channels ancient wisdom and spirituality\u2014her work speaks of the vital intertwining of all beings, an entanglement of energies, matter and forces that connect human life to the cosmos, linking the micro and macro within a universal order. Her ken\u00e9 designs can be read as a visual manifesto of her commitment to the core values of Shipibo ethics, and to protocols of conviviality, reciprocity, and kinship that extend beyond humans to animals, plants, land, and water. In this sense, her art is politically charged, standing as an emblem of artistic activism. The healing power of her patterns now extends to both human and natural dimensions, calling for universal solidarity and sustainability.<\/p>\n

Today, we see widespread hunger for new ways of inhabiting the planet, and in that context, Flores\u2019s work feels particularly relevant and resonant. It conveys a feminine sensibility that organically intertwines with environmental awareness and care for the collective\u2014standing in direct opposition to the prevailing model of testosterone-driven power, money and dominance.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSara Flores, Bakish Mai\u201d at White Cube Bermondsey. Photo \u00a9 White Cube (Theo Christelis)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet Flores has also embraced innovation, painting on canvas to bring this tradition into the present. Even the labyrinthine, psychedelic maps and constellations she traces are in continuous evolution: never the same from one work to the next, as she follows the directions suggested by the flow of energies and wisdom, attuning herself to something beyond physical and material existence. Her practice embodies continuous change, transformation and renewal.<\/p>\n

That same longing for change, however, now threatens the survival of the Shipibo-Conibo, as new technologies and social media encourage younger generations to abandon their traditions in favor of Western lifestyles. \u201cIt\u2019s a critical moment,\u201d states Norzi. \u201cFor that, we have a role to play here because traditional forms of transmitting knowledge no longer work. Take a person, 70 years old\u2014when they get sick, they go into the forest to search for plants, compared to their granddaughter, who spends the whole day on TikTok. When she gets sick, she goes to the pharmacy and no longer speaks Shipibo.\u201d<\/p>\n

To address this, last year they opened Multiversidad Bakish Mai, a nonprofit school and intergenerational cultural center dedicated to transmitting Indigenous knowledge with a focus on ecology, food sovereignty, plant medicine, art, political education and territorial sovereignty. Operating in the heart of Shipibo territories, the Multiversidad Bakish Mai works to preserve, revitalize, and transmit the knowledge embedded in Shipibo-Konibo-Xetebo worldviews and lifeways. The name itself carries this message, Norzi explains: \u201cBakish Mai can be translated as the land of today and tomorrow and of yesterday and tomorrow. The cyclical understanding of time, as the Shipibo conceive the world, embodied in this continuity.\u201d<\/p>\n

They have also launched a legal program with nine lawyers, some of whom are Shipibo speakers, providing legal defense and free services to Indigenous communities facing environmental crimes. Alongside this is a nature conservation initiative located within Shipibo territories rather than in Lima, offering an alternative to state-led conservation models that remain too distant. \u201cWe want to try to create something more bottom-up with our Indigenous partners, where local communities are at the center of decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n

A decade later, Norzi agrees that things have also shifted in the art world. Returning to where this story began, Indigenous practices are increasingly visible in institutional settings. Flores\u2019s recent major acquisitions are evidence of a surge of interest and appreciation. \u201cThese years of work have materialized in an impressive way in the last few weeks, meaning we\u2019ve somehow managed to change the museum collections and have this part recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet he also reminds us that it\u2019s crucial that these artists be presented at the same level as their international peers\u2014not as part of a cluster, but as contemporary creators who may channel ancient traditions, yet whose culture is still alive.<\/p>\n

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Bakish Mai Multiversity. Bakish Mai Multiversity.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What must be avoided is the perpetuation of the old museographic tradition that treats this art as an \u201cethnographic object.\u201d Instead, it must be recontextualized on equal footing with other non-Indigenous practitioners. \u201cWe come from a past of apartheid, where if you were Indigenous, you were elsewhere and something else,\u201d Norzi says. \u201cWith that approach, museums were doing a sort of epistemicide\u2014a cultural genocide\u2014to prevail over these other ways of knowing.\u201d He finds it far more compelling to explore the role Indigenous works can play in group exhibitions that reframe these practices within a universal creative common of beliefs and aesthetics resonating across cultures. Work by Flores, for example, could be paired with Agnes Martin<\/a> or with the work of Arte Povera artists who explored nature as a theme.<\/p>\n

These acquisitions, he adds, come with responsibility, particularly when it comes to art-washing. Norzi points out that many of these museums still have board members and supporters who actively contribute to the destruction of alternative ways of life, including those of Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n

Still, this is only the beginning, and Norzi is convinced that Indigenous artists like Flores will become increasingly relevant as humanity faces the dual crises of a worsening climate emergency and a crisis of empathy. \u201cWe\u2019re in a moment where everyone is thinking only of themselves, but I believe these values of reciprocity and connection with nature have the hope of being realized. People now have the desire to reclaim these values that their art conveys.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Indigenous artists, entering these platforms is not about validation but about reaching a stage where they can speak directly, point fingers and raise issues that might be easier to address in the safe space of art than in Parliament or the political arena. From there, they can share a call for a more sustainable existence, grounded in the awareness of the natural entanglement we all belong to and are responsible for.<\/p>\n

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Study for Shipibo-Konibo-Xetebo Nation Flag (Maya Punt\u00e9 Ken\u00e9) 7<\/em>, 2024; Vegetal dyes on canvas, 121 x 143.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Shipibo Conibo Center, New York Photo by Juan Pablo Murrugarra<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
More Arts interviews<\/b><\/h5>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Sara<\/p><\/div>\n