SPIRIT OF THE RAINFOREST

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2 SPIRIT OF THE RAINFOREST An art project to inspire young people across the world to get creative and connect with the rainforest. Inspired by the work of John Dyer and Nixiwaka Yawanawa at the Eden Project, we are inviting young people to create their own work and enter our Spirit of the Rainforest competition. BACKGROUND In 1989 British Artist John Dyer explored the Amazon as a photographer for Thames TV. At that time an Amazonian Indian, Nixiwaka, was a small boy living with his tribe the Yawanawá in the Amazon Rainforest. 26 years later John and Nixiwaka met at the Eden Project. John Dyer s Amazon experience turned him into an artist and painter and John discovered that one of Nixiwaka s dreams is to paint. In May 2015 the Eden Project brought John and Nixiwaka together in a unique cultural exchange. They created a new exhibition of paintings with the aim of inspiring a new generation to connect to the Rainforest. The Spirit of the Rainforest project is organised in association with Survival International. Survival is the global movement for tribal peoples rights. It champions tribal peoples around the world, helping them defend their lives, protect their lands and determine their own futures. Nixiwaka has spent the past year working for Survival International as part of their education and outreach programme. The Rainforest is a vital part of our lives and our future. We don t all realise this yet but the tribal people of the Amazon know it. By engaging children with the rainforest through art I hope it will build a lifelong concern and connection to the environment. When I travelled to the Amazon in 1989 as a photographer with Thames TV I was inspired. Inspired by the beauty and inspired to paint. I have painted ever since. When I met Nixiwaka for the first time at the Eden Project he explained his wish is to paint. I am delighted to be part of granting his wish and in the process to hopefully inspire thousands of young minds. John Dyer 2015

3 RARE - SPIRITUAL REBIRTH These paintings represent the spiritual rebirth of a person who experiences the Yawanawa initiation into becoming a Shaman. The rebirth begins with the root of Rare, a sacred plant considered by the Yawanawa to be the most powerful plant of the Rainforest. The ceremony invokes the spirit Vana who is considered to be the owner of all the plants and the most powerful spirit in the Rainforest. The ceremony to become a Shaman involves the person in undertaking a diet where they abstain from specific things, it involves the plant root for as long as six months when they are alone in the Rainforest. They are however watched over by their Shaman mentor. The plants are the door to the spiritual world. The ceremony makes the connection with the spirits and the person is transformed into a spiritual being able to see visions, heal and guide the tribe as a Shaman. Yawanawá The figure at the centre of my painting symbolises not only the spirit Vana but the Yawanawá themselves. The sacred plants feature in the painting alongside one of the most powerful animals in the rainforest, the Jaguar. The Jaguar symbolises power. The humming bird and Amazon butterflies create a biodiverse image that when combined with the amazing plant forms you find in the Amazon and at the Eden Project create a feeling of shared energy and vitality. The Yawanawá tribe are the custodians of their piece of the Amazon and their energy and life is a natural part of the ecosystem. We all need to respect the careful balance of the rainforest and I hope through these paintings our thoughts and actions will be reborn. John Dyer

4 YUXI YUVE - THE WATER SPIRIT OF THE AMAZON RAINFOREST These paintings depict the Spirit of Water who lives in the depths of the great rivers of the Rainforest. Yuxi Yuve is a beautiful woman with long flowing hair, down which water cascades, forging a link connecting the Spirit with all the rivers and everything that is supported in and by the water. She is the Lady of the Waters and is a powerful spirit that looks after all the living things, plants, animals and fish that inhabit the river. She appears in visions and dreams to the Yawanawa when they have a ceremony that invokes her force in order to teach them about the spiritual forces that live in the water. She connects the world of the river to the tribe showing its importance to their life as part of nature. Yawanawá The Water Spirit Yuxi Yuve has a real connection for me, she evokes not only the water cylcle of the rainforest but also has echoes of Mermaids, stories and Spirits in our own culture. Nixiwaka selected the Amazon plants around the waterfall at the Eden Project for us to work with so it was natural for me to create a circular composition with the waterfall forming Yuxi Yuve s hair. The Boa Constrictor features as the power of the rainforest. It is one of the most revered animals of the rainforest. I have included Amazon fish in the water and rainforest butterflies too. Many of the plant forms in the painting are painted from life using the plants at Eden as reference. My painting has a cyclical energy that echoes the natural cycle of life. John Dyer

5 VANA - THE SPIRIT OF OUR SHADOWS These paintings represent the very powerful Vana spirits. They are the guardian angels that protect us from all evil and as such are seen as the Spirit of our own shadow. Only the Shamans can see and talk to them in Ayahuasca ceremonies. The spirits guide the visions in the ceremonies so that we can find our personal Vana. Nixiwaka s painting is the vision of his Aunt who is a Shaman. He originally drew the image from her description. It is therefore a unique, powerful and emotional image. Yawanawá In our culture shadows are often used as ominous devices, but the realisation that the spirit of ones own shadow is a protector and guardian angel is enlightening. The power of the spirit is indicated by the Boa Constrictors and I have painted with intense colours and contrasts to evoke the rainforest exploding with energy and light from the shadows. My Vana spirit sits at the center of the composition radiating energy and protection. Rainforest butterflies, Macaws and spiders are used througout the painting. The energy that lives in us is the same energy that connects all living things and this energy radiates from the canvas. John Dyer

6 THE CREATION OF UNI (AYAHUASCA) These paintings represent how mortality came to the world and was overcome through the creation of Ayahuasca. At one time people were not mortal. A bad spirit cursed a Shaman who became the first person to die and he was buried. Later his son had a dream in which his father came to him to say that he was still alive but in a different form. He asked that his son should, after a period of time, visit the place where he was buried. When his son returned to the burial ground he discovered the Uni and Ravante plants, that had grown from all the joints of the Shaman. In his dream the Shaman provided his son with the knowledge of how to combine the plants to create Ayahuasca which from that time on has allowed the tribe to connect with the Spirit world. Tribes all over the Amazon know of Ayahuasca and have a shared knowledge of this even though this knowledge is not from direct contact with each other. The knowledge comes through the spirits. Yawanawá This painting captures so much about the Rainforest that I know and understand but in the context of one of the most fundamental and historic stories of the Yawanawá tribe. The Shaman is buried in the rainforest and from his energy new life emerges, in the form of medicinal plants. These plants allow the tribe to reconnect to the Shaman and this story of the cycle of energy underpins the cycle of life, death and rebirth. It is in so many ways a painting of balance and I have featured the Yawanawá tribe at the center of my painting as they rejoice in this energy that comes from the rainforest. John Dyer

7 NAWÊ This painting captures a vision that Nixiwaka Yawanawá had during a tribal ceremony in the Amazon. Nixiwaka described to me how the two most powerful animals of the rainforest appeared, the Boa Constrictor and the Jaguar. These two spirit animals then merged into one animal that was the combination of both spirits. This then transformed into a tribal spirit that connected and exploded its energy to every part of the rainforest. By using a circular composition and by interconnecting the bold shapes and colours of the plants I hope I have created an energetic and vibrant rainforest image that pulls your focus towards the center through the snake and Jaguar to the tribal ceremony that is taking place. The Amazon river flows in the background and the vine used in Ayahuasca grows throughout the painting. For me this is a very powerful image of the Spirit of the Rainforest. John Dyer

8 THE PROJECT Eden hopes that the paintings John and Nixiwaka produced in the Rainforest Biome will inspire thousands of children across the world to get creative and connect with the Rainforest. To encourage young people to get involved we re inviting them to submit their art work to our Spirit of the Rainforest competition. All suitable entries will be displayed on the Eden website. WHAT WE RE LOOKING FOR Children s art work on the theme of Spirit of the Rainforest in any 2-D medium. The work could be inspired by: the rainforest paintings by John Dyer and Nixiwaka Yawanawá tribal people and culture rainforest plants rainforest animals, birds and insects rainforest foods. PRIZES Six winners will be chosen in each of the following four age groups: 5 and under 6 8 years old 9 12 years old years old We ll print hundreds of the best pieces for display in the Rainforest Biome. From these, a select group of winners will: be invited to the Eden Project to meet artist John Dyer and to see their art displayed in the final John Dyer/Nixiwaka Yawanawá exhibition on 17 October 2015 receive a signed John Dyer print worth 115 have their pictures printed on Art Mugs from Zazzle win a Daler-Rowney Simply Creative Easel Set from Jackson s. HOW TO ENTER Entries can be made by submitting a photo of your work online by 30 September All entries must comply with the full terms and conditions stated at We will exhibit all entries on the Eden Project website for the world to see.