VIEWPOINTS
An Amazonian Thinker
— María Clara Sharupi Juá
A poetic video essay instigating questions about knowledge, kinship and the power of the word…in three parts.
María Clara Sharupi Juá tells her story in Spanish and the indigenous language of Shuar. Her story was filmed by Ecuadorian artist Fabiano Kueva in the summer of 2022.
Chapter 1: Museum As A Colonial Trigger. The images featured in this film are published with the authorization of Fabiano Kueva, María Clara Sharupi Jua, the Goldschmid Archive, The Abya Yala Museum and Archivo Histórico MCYP Quito, 2022.
Chapter 2: Traveler’s Incomplete Narrative. The images featured in this film are published with the authorization of Fabiano Kueva, María Clara Sharupi Jua, the Goldschmid Archive, The Abya Yala Museum and Archivo Histórico MCYP Quito, 2022.
Chapter 3: Anthropology: Beyond the Translation. The images featured in this film are published with the authorization of Fabiano Kueva, María Clara Sharupi Jua, the Goldschmid Archive, The Abya Yala Museum and Archivo Histórico MCYP Quito, 2022.
María Clara Sharupi Juá is an Ecuadorian writer, poet, and translator, who writes in Spanish and Shuar, an indigenous language of Ecuador’s Amazon basin. She writes poetry in Shuar, while translating it into Spanish in order to reach a wider audience. She co-wrote the book “Amanece en nuestras vidas” (2011), the first anthology of poetry from Ecuadorian indigeneous women writers, and wrote the short story collection “Tarimiat” (2019), which was written in Shuar, Spanish, and English. She was a member of the translation team that worked on the official Shuar translation of Ecuador’s Constitution. She lives in Quito, where she has also worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Migration on indigenous issues.
Film by: Fabiano Kueva is an Ecuadorian artist and curator whose work has been exhibited in museums, public spaces, and community settings. He has participated in the Havana Biennial (Cuba, 2009), the Montevideo Biennial (Uruguay, 2014), and Venice Biennal (Italy, 2015), and was recipient of the Prince Claus Fund Grant 2010.
Guest Editor: Ana María Durán Calisto
