Anaïs Budet, artist-painter, and Mariette Raina, projects coordinator at Age of Union, meet from two perspectives – art and concrete action on the ground – to discuss the importance of indigenous people throughout the world within environmental conservation.
Environmental conservation is changing, and it is in this awareness that we must be visionary: ready to defend the environment by breaking away from a colonialist model and working in partnership with the guardians of the territories that have protected ecosystems for thousands of years: indigenous peoples.
“Knowledge of nature is fundamental for the protection and sustainability of ecosystems and biodiversity. We must listen and learn from indigenous peoples in order to make a major transition for the preservation of the environment together.” – Anaïs Budet
Through the project we partner with on the ground, Age of Union acts in this awareness and is committed to working with indigenous communities connected to the land we protect; such as the first nations communities of the Madre Do Dios region in Peru who live in semi-voluntary isolation (the Yine and Amahuaca), the ones of British Columbia of Canada (Katzie, Qualicum and Snaw-Naw-As), as well as the pygmies of Congo (the Batwa) or Indonesia (Dayak).
Anaïs Budet is a painter and a native of France. She paints large-scale canvases of aboriginal faces. Through the size of the canvas she uses and the emphasis she places on their presence, she creates an immersion that leaves no escape for the person looking at a face: a face-to-face as striking as it is subtle, where one is pierced by a gaze, a being, a story.
Art becomes an object of meditation, a contact, a way to start a dialogue between cultures and connect with ancestral knowledge that has a lot to share, to say and to teach. The artist lays the groundwork for the discussion and circumscribes a space for questioning that initiate a way of reassessing what has been done in the past to draw a future with practices and communication more in tune with humans.
“Because of their relationship to nature, their connection to the Earth engraved in their history, indigenous peoples must be heard. This is what instinctively led me to paint their faces which are both the symbol of a space of awareness of the interdependence of humans with the Living, and of an intelligence of nature, which are the keys for a new ecology guaranteeing true preservation of the environment.” – Anais Budet
Art is a key tool to connect, show and say beyond words. Age of Union acts on the ground and also allows – thanks to the Center of the Earth – to offer a space in which art and environmental consciousness meet. We deeply believe that artists are emissaries who allow reflection and awareness of conservation issues, and we believe strongly that the future will be with indigenous communities.
“By its essence and its ontological dimension, art has the particularity of offering another perception of reality via that of an artist. Through my way of perceiving and painting indigenous peoples and tribes, I wish to bring them a new and powerful look.
In the near future, I wish to establish, in collaboration with environmental organizations, meetings and sharing where everyone can freely express their knowledge, in mutual listening and respect.
Art is a tool and support for mediation and tolerance that opens us up to each other, helping us to accept and recognize our cultural differences as riches and resources for the world. – Anais Budet
