Kayapo HC16 by Fede Bianchi

Medium: Archival pigment print on Metallic Paper

Dimensions: 60.96 x 60.96 cm

Year: 2025

Price: $2500.00 USD

Status: available

Kayapo HC16 from the series 💢 Deprived 💢 Inspired by pre-Columbus Indigenous body art, this work tries to bring awareness of the extreme deprivation the original peoples have been suffering for the last centuries. Their glowing energy transcends the invisible subjects through the infinite and universal space of the body mandalas in an attempt to rescue the brightness and fluorescence of these civilizations. Technique: Hand-painted UV-reactive body paint is applied directly onto the model using patterns inspired by Indigenous/pre-Columbian body art. The image is photographed in a dark studio under controlled UV/blacklight so the pigment fluoresces while the human figure recedes into near-invisibility. In post-production, I deepen the surrounding blacks, remove any ambient light spill, and preserve the authentic glow of the paint. For the “body mandala” compositions, multiple photographs of the painted body are then composited—with sacred geometry rotations—to create a symmetrical, radiating structure where the pattern becomes both presence and message. Story: Since Gonzalo Pizarro started his search for “El Dorado” or “City of Gold” in 1541, the whole Amazon has been marked with brutality, slavery, violence, disease, genocide, deforestation, contamination, population declines of animals and native peoples and the deprivation of their lands. From the thousands of tribes that once lived there at the time the europeans colonists arrived a few survived to this date. On average, it is estimated that one tribe became extinct every year over the last century. Today, 60% of the Amazon is in Brazil’s territory. There are about 305 tribes living in Brazil today totaling around 900,000 people that are constantly under survival thread as more industrialization plans are developed. This is a battle that more than 200 organizations are fighting on the streets and at government institutions. I’m highlighting in this artwork Kayapo tribe.