The Italian brand illycaffè presented its new line of artistic cups, the illy Art Collection, which this time pays homage to the 60th Venice Art Biennale and is signed by four Latin American artists, including the indigenous Brazilian collective Mahku.
The collection was named “Stranieri Ovunque” (“Foreigners everywhere”, in free translation), the same title as the exhibition that begins this Saturday (20) and runs until November 24.
The four artists were chosen by the curator of the Venice Art Biennale, Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa, the first Latin American to hold the position. In addition to Mahku, the new illy Art Collection is designed by Guatemalan Paula Nicho, Peruvian Rember Yahuarcani López and Colombian Aycoobo.
“The new illy Art Collection is dedicated to those who are foreigners or far away and promotes, through contemporary art, different forms of dialogue and inclusion, ranging from respect for the roots and culture of all peoples to the importance of living in balance with nature, values that illycaffè supports throughout the supply chain, always placing people and the environment at the center of its activities”, said Cristina Scocchia, CEO of the Trieste company, which collaborates with the Biennale of Art for over 20 years.
Mahku brings together artists from the Huni Kuin ethnic group, who inhabit the Kaxinawá Indigenous Land, in Acre, and uses their creations to portray myths that tell the origins of the world and the close relationships between humans, animals, plants and spirits.
The art brought to illy's cup by the collective tells the myth of “kapewe pukeni” (“alligator bridge”), which says that, in ancient times, an alligator offered to transport people trying to cross between Asia and America via Bering Strait.
However, as the journey progressed and food sources diminished, the men resorted to hunting a small alligator, betraying the trust of the larger alligator, which submerged into the depths of the sea, marking the genesis of the division between people and lands. (HANDLE)
