A Window into Latin American Indigenous People & Nature

I haven't had a lot of time to paint with my environmental work over the last decade, I gave up art for environmental pursuits, I sometimes wish I just stuck with it, my life certainly would have been less stressful than it has been, in the meantime here are a few examples of some paintings I had time to do, inspired by Latin America & my love for nature, the indigenous cultures and people.

This piece was in a community art exhibition called 100 Sqft organized by Carne Griffith and was exhibited in New Orleans and London with 99 other artists in 2010, It was inspired by an ancient indigenous lady I met in Guatemala that only spoke one of the many Mayan languages around the lake, specifically T'zutujil instead of Spanish and she was at least a century old. It was also inspired by Guatemalan activists whose work was dedicated to reuniting Mayan legends and myths to the Mayan people that had lost a lot of their cultural heritage and spiritual knowledge after the war there.

This was the final result of that exhibition, a very fun way to get community artists working together.

This was a large painting I did in Guatemala in 2009, called The Last Shaman, now it's the Lost Shaman, as unfortunately Delta airlines lost this painting when it was sent from Guatemala to San Francisco by courier service, I have no idea how they could loose a painting that was 40 inches by 40 inches. I just hope its hanging on someone's wall somewhere. I painted it after reading a wonderful book by Joe Kane about the Huaorani Indians of Ecuador called Savages and how they defended their land from Oil Barons and further conflicts with a Pharmacuetical company that tried to patent a formula based on their knowledge of medicinal plants.

Me painting The Last Shaman, detail in the eye is him witnessing his home burning down. Every time a shaman dies, it is as if a library has gone up in flames and the same when a forest is destroyed.

The Colours of Wisdom is inspired by the indigenous people of Ecuador

A Walk Through the Forest inspired by my visits deep into the Amazon Jungle.

The Amazon Speaking, inspired by a shaman friend of mine.

The Last Tree Standing, inspired by a famous Sloth that was rescued on the highway by Ecuadorian police as it was trying to find passage to the forest.

And then there were none, inspired by the plight of the indigenous constantly having their land taken from then for oil drilling and mining companies.

Some preliminary sketches

A Mural I did in Guatemala

Thank you for stopping by, more art and photography to come later!

by

Carlita Shaw