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Spirituality has always manifested as a living fabric within the Amazonian territory. It thrives in animals, plants, rivers, non-human beings, and humans alike. Indigenous peoples have cultivated deeply spiritual connections with nature, life cycles, and the unique cosmologies of each ethnicity, guided by the energies of the encantarias (spiritual entities).

With colonization and the transatlantic slave trade, primarily from the region of the Costa da Mina in West Africa—encompassing present-day Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, and Togo—Africans arrived at ports in Grão-Pará and Maranhão, where they endured the sufferings of enslavement. However, they did not arrive alone; they brought with them their deities, who offered them hope.

Initially, African deities manifested only among Africans. The Vodun Verequete was the first to recognize that this separation was detrimental to the emerging consciousness and world configuration. He visited houses of enchanted caboclos (spirits) and acknowledged these entities as equals. He proposed alliances to unite all peoples.

In this context, through bibliographic research, personal experiences, encounters, and displacements, I have been exploring African ancestry and how it manifests in the Amazon region. This research led me to the Adinkra symbols—a set of symbols belonging to the Ashanti people, part of the Akan ethnic group, which represent social, spiritual, and ancestral knowledge. Using these symbols, I envision scenarios where they intersect with Amazonian contexts, creating scenes where Afro-Indigenous presence is expressed. These scenes are guided by the energies of the encantarias, which permeate everything: the landscapes, rhythms, customs, daily life, struggles, food, objects, and fruits.

This research began during an artistic residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, where I was influenced by encounters, conversations, recognitions, and reflections on the similarities and differences of an Africa in diaspora. One such encounter was at a flea market, where a Senegalese merchant introduced me to various items. Among them, a yellow earth-toned, patterned fabric caught my eye. He told me it was a unique piece from Ghana. I kept the fabric stored away, only revisiting it during the development of this work.

This project stems from a personal desire to deepen my understanding of my home state, Pará, by visiting certain places for the first time. It was also a way to advance my research through lived experiences. With the support of the Visual Arts Grant – Paulo Gustavo Law, I traveled to Soure/Marajó and Santarém/Alter do Chão.

In Marajó, the colors I had been working with gained new meaning. The waters and all that comes from them became central. In the book The Mystical World of the Caruanas of Marajó Island, pajé (shaman) Zeneida Lima writes that “the world of the Enchanted lies at the bottom of the waters, because from them, all things were born.” From where they were born and, I believe, where they continue to emerge.

In Santarém, where much of my family originates, I created the video that precedes the paintings. The relationship between Indigenous and African worlds begins in the spiritual realm before reaching the physical.

This is how I connect to the Adinkras, symbols of the Akan people, who mainly inhabit present-day Ghana, where the fabric I acquired also originates. I draw a parallel between their origins and the Tambor de Mina, the primary Afro-Brazilian religiosity in the Amazon, whose founders also share this origin, as the term “Mina” refers to enslaved Africans brought from the São Jorge da Mina fort in present-day Ghana.

Through the lens of the encantarias, the figures in the paintings emerge. The Adinkras are not presented as something separate but as integrated into what already existed in the Amazon, alongside pajelança (Indigenous spiritual practices) and its mysteries. Adinkras and Indigenous cosmologies share a deep respect for spirituality, ancestry, and nature. Both embody a worldview in which the sacred permeates daily life and natural elements.

This is a process-site, where I present the paintings and the references behind their creation. These works emerge non-linearly, drawing from natural elements and historical intersections where Afro-Amerindian presence is revealed.

We contemplate the symbols and their wisdom.
Through them, we learn and teach.
Through them, we converge.