Cultural Life, Arts and Expression: Kaê Guajajara

“After living for such a long time experiencing the consequences of European colonisation, I’ve realised that I had to reach the roots of our structural problems to learn how to fight back. My singing tries to present melodies in new formats, drawing attention to decolonisation and antiracist lyrics, so this way I can establish through the arts a relationship with non-indigenous society and oppose to structural racism, social invisibility and violence that affect all of us indigenous people.

Being able to watch my work gain different spaces and institutions where we wouldn’t be seen before makes me conscious that I’m on the right track to take indigenous representation to places where the story was only told before from a colonised power structure perspective. I want to keep telling our story for those who need to hear it the most.”

Kaê is an indigenous singer, songwriter, actress and writer who is originally from Maranhão (Northeast Brazil) and now lives in Rio de Janeiro. Weaving a line between ancestry and indigenous futurism, Kaê Guajajara has been breaking the silence and the chains imposed by racism and colonisation; raising up cries of resistance that span and echo from since Brazil was a Portuguese Colony. Kaê’s music presents a great opportunity to raise awareness among non-indigenous people about who the true owners of this land are and where we are today.