Listen to the artist talk about his works:
English Translation:My name is Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Yanomami artist born in Sheroana in the Amazon jungle in the High Orinoco. I started working with my friend Laura Anderson [Barbata], first learning to make paper and then books where we tell our stories. The first book
Shaponno: la casa comunitaria [
Shaponno: The Community House] was a book that won an award in Caracas. The work that I do is almost always drawing. All of these works are made on handcrafted paper from Yagrumo shiki fibre which I made in my studio in Mahekoto. They are small papers because over there I only had a small frame to work with. We use these drawings in the community to paint our bodies and on the baskets that the women paint. Reikiwe, palm leaf; Shote he oni, basket drawing; Warora ano mayo, snail trail; Atayu âxôni, caterpillar; Pririhiwe, horizontal sticks; Êyêkêwe ithothowe, curved decending lines; and Parokowe, jaguar markings. I learned these drawings from my mother who also painted. I draw them so that they will be preserved and known, because they can be lost, and if they are not used, no one will remember them. It is very important to preserve them.