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Paper short abstract

Based on the Amazonart Project, this paper argues that visibility through the curatorial has become a narrative that has lost its potential. It proposes that shifting towards socially–ecologically engaged curatorial practices can open up stronger possibilities for re-worlding through the curatorial.

Paper long abstract

Curatorship was scarcely addressed in The Traffic in Culture (Marcus and Myers, 1995) as a practice relating art and anthropology. However, the role of curating within anthropology has since become an expanding practice and a growing site of academic reflection. This paper offers a brief overview of this relationship before turning to the Amazonart Project. The project has used curatorship as a methodology of research, relationality, care, and dissemination.

I will reflect on the curatorial approach and public outcomes of Listening to the Voices of the Rivers, an exhibition and community art programme at Newcastle Contemporary Art (2025). Curated with Dr Pinheiro-Dias and Dr Sutcliffe and produced during a period of institutional crisis, the project demonstrates how long-term collaborations enabled the participation of prominent Indigenous artists and fostered multiple forms of connection. The paper considers the exhibition’s pedagogical and community-oriented dimensions, including its dialogue with river initiatives in the Northeast of England and its engagement with schools and rainforest curricula, arguing for a shift from spotlight-driven approaches to more entangled curatorial practices.

I argue that while visibility once functioned as a political strategy within an ongoing unequal art system, it has become a narrative that has lost much of its transformative potential -Amazonian art has gained global attention yet remains distant from sustainable relations. Moving towards collaborative and socially–ecologically engaged curatorial practices can foster stronger relationships with diverse publics and places, opening more meaningful possibilities for re-worlding (Borea, Cozzolino, Flynn, 2025) through anthropology, art and the curatorial.