Shereka hemoshi

Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe is an indigenous Yanomami artist from Sheroana, a small community on the Upper Orinoco River in Venezuela. He began making works on paper in the early 1990s under the direction of Mexican artist Laura Anderson Barbata. Barbata’s ‘Rainforest Paper Project, Yanomami Owë Mamotima’ was founded to assist the remote community to preserve their own history, recycle waste paper and create an income. Through this initiative Hakihiiwe studied paper making using recycled materials and began working with acrylic paint to document the oral traditions of his community.

The subject of Hakihiiwe’s delicate line drawings is the Amazon jungle: its animals, insects, plant life, creation stories and spirit world; as well as the symbols and designs used taught to him by his mother. As he remarked to writer and artist, Lauren Moya, “I don’t paint the things I see outside my community or jungle. I don’t invent anything, everything I do is my jungle and what is there.”1

1. ‘Drawing the Intricate Environment of an Indigenous Venezuelan Community’, by Lauren Moya Ford, 25 October 2021 https://hyperallergic.com/686632/drawing-the-intricate-environment-of-an-indigenous-venezuelan-community/ accessed 14/2/22