Ayahuasca & Art of the Amazon
14 September - 2 February 2025Our new Universal Ticket allows access to our entire gallery. This ticket operates on a ‘Pay If and What You Can’ basis. Upon arrival, please go to gallery reception where our universal ticket is available. No pre-booking necessary. If you would like to make a Group Booking or have additional access needs, please contact us on scva@uea.ac.uk or 01603 593199
This exhibition considers the impact of the mind-altering, psychotropic vine – ayahuasca – within Western Amazonian social life.
From the 1950s onwards, drugs were heavily linked with the emergence of the American literary and social movement of the Beat Generation. Artworks produced in North America and Europe speak to the ways in which hallucinogens are transforming the cultural landscape, becoming important for political emancipation, psychotherapy, and personal development.
In many Indigenous societies, hallucinogens continue to play a role in the determination of social position, therapeutic practices, and the maintenance of relationships with ancestors, spirits, and gods. And now, because of the boom in international tourism, increasing amounts of people are now experiencing the effects of ayahuasca.
Ayahuasca & Art of the Amazon will show that the ritual consumption of ayahuasca is intimately linked to the artistic production of ceramics, textiles, sculpture, painting and photography.
The exhibition focuses on the creativity of Indigenous artists of the Peruvian Amazon’s Shipibo-Konibo community, presenting historical artefacts alongside contemporary works by living artists.
Ayahuasca & Art of the Amazon is a rare opportunity to appreciate the breadth of Amazonian art, which ranges from the mesmerising abstract geometrical patterns known as ‘kené’ to figurative portrayals of Amazonian cosmologies and spiritual encounters.
Visitors will also be able to take a virtual ‘trip’ on an ayahuasca journey – guided by a shaman – thanks to a powerful VR experience. Please note, this experience is restricted to those aged 13 and over.
The exhibition will also feature an extended replica of Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville’s Dreamachine, first created in 1959. Intended to be viewed with your eyes closed, Gysin described the artwork as a “drugless psychedelic experience”. A perforated cylinder turning around a light source, the stroboscopic machine creates a pulsing light that will cause you to hallucinate and see changing colours and patterns behind your shut eyelids.
This exhibition was developed by the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris. Curated by David Dupuis.
Ayahuasca & Art of the Amazon is part of a six-month season of interlinked exhibitions and events that explore the question Why Do We Take Drugs?
Unknown artist, jar, Shipibo-Konibo, Peru, date unknown, painted terra-cotta. Courtesy of private collection.