Open studio: Mandí Kaibô at Espaço Alkantara

The pirarucu is a mysterious Amazonian fish, guardian of the river’s secrets and memories. Considered one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, it has tough scales and can breathe air, allowing it to survive even in dense, low-oxygen waters. It was once human and today reigns over the riverbed.

In Pirarucu – Filho de peixe, peixe é, Mandí Kaibô weaves ancestral memories and knowledge into the living body of clay, drawing from his life in community and, above all, from his grandmother Joveniana Gomes da Silva, a seamstress and inventor of imaginary worlds, who taught him the first and most precious lessons of life. As he transforms into a fish, he intones a telluric exultation among cords and clay beads, whose repeated gestures dismantle the imposition of colonial forgetting, making the unspeakable emerge.

Following Com-Fiar, a durational and community-based performative act followed by the exhibition Roda que não tem fim at TBA in December 2025, Mandí Kaibô is now in an artistic residency at Alkantara, gathering with artists drawn to this mystery to create the performance and exhibition Pirarucu – Filho de peixe, peixe é, a work dedicated to the memory of his enchanted grandmother, Joveniana.

On 24 April at 19:00, there will be a sharing session open to the public at Espaço Alkantara – free entry!

Credits

Performance, Sculpture, Creation and direction Mandí Kaibô Lighting Lui L’abbate Movement direction Jorge Ciprianno Sound Gadutra Video Izabelle Louise