Documentary Chronicles Sara Flores's Journey From Amazon To Art World

(MENAFN- USA Art News) A new documentary,“The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs,” follows Shipibo-Conibo artist Sara Flores as her intricate kené patterns, traditionally induced by ayahuasca visions and created with natural dyes, gain international recognition. The film premiered globally on September 12 at the Toronto International Film Festival and will screen again on September 19.

Directed by Matteo Norzi and Èlia Gasull Balada, the documentary highlights Flores's late-career achievements, including a collaboration with Dior on a limited-edition Lady Dior bag. Her work is also currently featured in the Peruvian pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Norzi, who cofounded the Shipibo-Conibo Center, a nonprofit providing legal assistance and art curation, helped introduce Flores to the New York art world.

The film captures the septuagenarian artist's practice, beginning in the Amazon with footage of Flores harvesting yacushapana bark for brown dye. Her daughters and granddaughters participate in the kené tradition, which Flores was among the first artists to sign in the 1970s, following advice from an anthropologist. Flores creates fractalized patterns freehand on raw cotton canvas, expanding outward from initial marks. These designs, often resembling branching trees and leaves, are likened to mandalas, henna, or Māori tattooing, and evoke Modernist comparisons such as Agnes Martin's grid paintings or William Morris wallpaper.

“The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs” tracks Flores's international exhibitions, including shows at Clearing in New York in 2023, White Cube in London in 2025, and venues in Paris. White Cube now represents her. Flores has expressed feeling more appreciated abroad than in her native Peru. A retrospective at Lima's Museo de Arte, which is the institution's first solo exhibition dedicated to an Indigenous artist, forms a pivotal moment in the film, contrasting kené canvases with the museum's permanent collection depicting conquest and Christian conversion.

The documentary explores the challenges faced by Flores, whose work provides proceeds to her family and organizations supporting Indigenous self-governance. She actively supports Indigenous guards patrolling the Amazon against deforestation and illegal logging. Despite her love for travel and enjoyment of her newfound fame, Flores faces the physical toll of aging, with cramping hands impacting her detailed kené work. The film, assembled from footage shot over several years, adopts a vérité style, eschewing traditional talking heads and exposition. Its structure follows the filming process, fostering appreciation for Flores's remarkable art practice amidst threats to her community's habitat.

Source: The Art Newspaper

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