Amazonistas

de Christian Bendayán, Giuliana Vidarte

Christian Bendayán (Peru 1973) is a legend on the contemporary Peruvian art scene. Born in the jungle city of Iquitos, he is the founder of the current Amazonistas movement (numbering over 200 artists). The book comprises the work, testimonies and reflections of 23 amazonista artists, interviewed by Bendayan and author Giuliana Vidarte. "Never before the Amazon has been represented so strongly in the artistic production of the country. If I'm not mistaken, about half of the Peruvian artists have joined the Amazon imagery and its productionʺ. Thus, unlike the current indigenous movement that marked the Peruvian culture at the beginning of the 1930œs, the amazonismoʺ movement does not intend to stay in a Peruvian Pre-Hispanic heritage celebration nor is a visual reinterpretation of the intellectual, artistic elites of diverse origins. "We are not talking about the past, but the future. We take into account the value of the Amazon as a gigantic nature reserve, a reserve of knowledge and wisdom.ʺ Participating artists include Colombian artists in the Amazons and adopted foreigners.