Mecarõ. Amazonia in the Petitgas Collection
Group Exhibition
Curated by Anna Kerekes and Jacqueline Kok
MO.CO. Hôtel des collections, Montpellier
6 March 2020 – 20 September 2020

Mecarõ. Amazonia in the Petitgas Collection is the first institutional presentation of Catherine Petitgas’ collection. A significant figure in the recognition of contemporary Latin American art in Europe, she has been collecting works for over twenty years. Her collection today consists of more than 900 works. The exhibition presented at the Hôtel des collections unites a selection of more than 100 from over 50 artists from the Amazonian basin. The exhibition, whose title means “ the spirit of the forest ” in the Krahô language, emphasizes the relationship between the artists from this region and their socio-economical and mental environment.

Partly destroyed by fires in the summer of 2019, the Amazon covers 6.7 million km². It is a natural region and an ecosystem spanning across nine countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Surinam, Guiana and French Guiana), recognized for its hydrographic basin, its tropical forest and the richness of its biodiversity. How can the members of this ecosystem, humans and non-humans, help us imagine a future society and divert the course of globalization? How do we define an artistic environment from the existing conditions and behaviours of the living beings that inhabit it?

All photos by Marc Domage