Daiara Hori Figueroa Sampaio, a traditional Duhigô name, belongs to the Erëmiri Hãusiro Parameri clan of the Yepá Mahsã people, better known as Tukano. She is an artist, independent communicator, indigenous rights activist, and Human Rights researcher. Her work is based on the research of the traditions and spirituality of her people, especially through the study of the Hori. To this end, Daiara dedicates herself to apprehending the visions she attains in her dreams and in the studies she does with her family, while also observing the paintings found on the traditional objects of her culture, such as the weavings of the basketry, the ceramics, the benches, and the body paintings, which allude to the memory of the same history of transformation that is the Tukano’s history of humanity. The artist articulates the investigation into her people’s culture and the experimentation with forms and light, seeking to understand the density of its vibrations as well as how they affect us on multiple levels.
She has a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the Universidade de Brasília and a bachelor’s in Fine Arts from the same institution. She was the coordinator of Rádio Yandê, the first indigenous web-radio in Brazil, from 2005 to 2021. She won the PIPA Prize Online 2021 and the Prince Claus Prize 2022 from the Dutch Prince Claus Fund. Daiara is a member of the National Counsel of Culture, as an Indigenous representative of civil society.
Daiara Tukano has held solo shows such as Pamuri Pati: World of Transformation, at the MAR, Rio de Janeiro, in 2024, and, in the previous year, at the Museu Nacional da República, in Brasília, in addition to Kihtimori: Creation Memories, at Richard Saltoun Gallery, in Rome, Italy, and Amõ Numiã, at Millan, both in 2023. She was the invited artist at the 30th Programa de Exposições at the Centro Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, in 2020, when she executed the project Pamuri Yukese. In 2022, she curated the exhibition Nhe’é Porã: Memória e transformação at the Museu da Língua Portuguesa in São Paulo. In 2024, this exhibition travelled to Museu Emílio Goeldi in Belém, Brazil, and to the Ségur Hall, at UNESCO in Paris, France.
She has been part of group shows such as: Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis, at Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Brasil Futuro: as formas da democracia, Museu Nacional da República, Brasília, Brazil, both in 2023. In the previous year, Histórias Brasileiras, Masp, São Paulo, Brazil; Contramemória, Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, Brazil, and Brasilidade pós-modernismo, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brazil. In 2021, she participated in the show Kaa Body – Cosmovision of the rainforest, at Paradise Row, London, UK; 34th Bienal de São Paulo – Though It’s Dark, Still I Sing, São Paulo, SP and Moquém Surari – Arte Indígena Contemporânea, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo – MAM, São Paulo, Brazil. The artist also took part in Véxoa: nós sabemos, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, 2020.
Her works are featured in the collections of institutions such as Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge, USA; Instituto Inclusartiz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo, Brazil; Museo del Barrio, New York, USA; Museo delle Civiltà, Rome, Italy; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
