I Follow Rivers: Indigenous Worlds in Latin America

I Follow Rivers: Indigenous Worlds in Latin America features over 100 works from more than 50 artists, exploring the profound resilience and evolving cultural landscapes of Indigenous peoples and artists throughout Latin America. The featured artists navigate history, land, community and change, each charting their own course through the cultures they carry and innovate.

The show spans the early twentieth century to the present, including newly commissioned works. Visitors will witness complex and layered practices and imagery that resist fixed categories. While these artists navigate a world shaped by colonialism, they forge new paths for themselves and their communities and affirm that Indigenous knowledge and creativity are not static. These communities are vital, transformative, and always in motion.

This is the largest exhibition in the U.S. to ever feature modern and contemporary Latin American artists who are Indigenous. This includes internationally established artists such as Claudia Alarcón, Denilson Baniwa, Edgar Calel, Seba Calfuqueo, Martín Chambi, Rosa Elena Curruchich, Venuca Evanán, Claudia Martinez Garay, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Julia Isídrez, MAHKU (Huni Kuin Art Movement), António Pichillá, Abel Rodriguez, and Kira Xonorika.

Colorful and intricately patterned acrylic painting featuring several faces and figures and eyes — MAHKU (Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin), *Hawe Dautibuya*, 2023. Acrylic paint on canvas; 41 x 57 5/8 in. Denver Art Museum: Funds from 2022 Collectors' Choice, 2024.145. © MAHKU (Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin)

Wall view of several square-sized paintings leaning against a wall — Claudia Martinez Garay, *Muy blanco para indio y muy poco para blanco (Too white for a cholo, not enough for a white man)*, 2020. Clay painting installation (clay on cotton canvas); 61 1/8 x 196 7/8 in. Denver Art Museum: Funds from 2022 Collectors' Choice, 2023.202A-W. © Claudia Martinez Garay

Mixed media collage featuring figures, drawings, papers, and other iconography — Denilson Baniwa, *Mitologicas*, 2023. Acrylic paint, oil pastels, and paper posters on canvas; 51¼ × 78½ × 1 in. overall. Denver Art Museum: Funds from Craig Ponzio, 2023.259A-B. © Denilson Baniwa

Brown home-like structure surrounded by several different types of tall green trees — Abel Rodriguez, *La maloca y su frutales*, 2023. Ink and acrylic paint on paper; 27½ × 39⅜ in. Denver Art Museum: Funds from 2022 Collectors’ Choice. © Abel Rodriguez

Two sculptures resting on wooden podiums — Seba Calfuqueo, *HEDOR (Stench)*, 2022. Enameled ceramic. Denver Art Museum: Gift of Seba Calfuqueo, 2023.40.1-2. © Seba Calfuqueo

Colorful patterned wool textile with a large gray bird in the center with its wings outstretched — Claudia Alarcon, *Wanlaj (suri) – el gran chefe [The Big Chief]*, 2023. Textile on synthetic wool; 60 x 46 in. Denver Art Museum: Funds from 2022 Collectors' Choice, 2023.566. © Claudia Alarcon

Still from a 3D animation video featuring an orange fox and black otter — Seba Calfuqueo, *NGURU KA WILLIÑ (Fox and Otter)*, 2022. English translation: Jorge Perez Roldan. 3D Animation: Roberto Riveros aka Neo Cristo, Edition 1/5 + 2AP. 3D digital animation; 4 min, 10 sec. Denver Art Museum: Funds from 2022 Collectors’ Choice, 2023.70.1-6. © and courtesy Seba Calfuqueo.

Young boy with soot or dirt on his face staring straight into the camera — Claudia Andujar, *Sem titulo, da serie O Reahu* (*Untitled*, from the series *Reahu*), 1974. Gelatin silver print; 24 3/4 x 27 3/4 inches. Denver Art Museum: Gift of Lannan Foundation, 2024.818. © Claudia Andujar

Video still of a woman with a heavily-painted and patterned blue and white face — Kira Xonorika, *Trickster*, 2025. HD video with sound; 6 sec, 9 min. Denver Art Museum: Funds from 2022 Collectors' Choice, 2025.331.1-3. Video still © and courtesy Kira Xonorika

Woman sitting in the ground working on wool — Elvira Espejo Ayca, *Escarminado*, 2023. Single-channel video; 6 min, 19 sec. Denver Art Museum: Funds from Collectors' Choice 2022. © Elvira Espejo Ayca

Oil painting of a streetscape with a large mountain looming in the background — Edgar Calel, *Me venden 1*, 2016–24. Oil and charcoal on canvas; 24 1/8 x 32 1/8 in. Denver Art Museum: Funds from 2022 Collectors' Choice, 2024.211. © Edgar Calel

A powerful woman figure in flight, with her arms outstretched reavealing a mystical, intricately-designed wingspan — Santiago Yahuarcani, *El vuelo de mama Martha Jañao Feia*, 2021. Natural inks and paint on organic canvas made of bark (Ilanchama); 31½ × 61¾ in. Denver Art Museum: Funds from 2022 Collectors' Choice, 2024.435. Photographed by Katherine Fiedler, courtesy CRISIS Galeria. © Santiago Yahuarcani.

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Scientific and Cultural Facilities District: We Fund Culture

I Follow Rivers: Indigenous Worlds in Latin America is organized by the Denver Art Museum. The exhibition is generously made possible through the Fox Endowment for Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art, with additional support from the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD).

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