MASHA

Shara Bliss Osgood

Shara’s Art

1 - Japini Bird Spirit – This was drawn during my first Hampaya ceremony. The japini bird is a sacred bird of the Huni Kuin people. During the ceremony, I could hear a birdsong very clearly and feel the flight of the bird.

2- Aya Root Spirit – I wear a pendant that is a slice of root from the ayahuasca root. After our ceremonies, I saw a spirit being in the root and was compelled to draw it. I feel that it is a companion and protector for me.

3 - Anaconda Flow – I was feeling the movement of snake energy. It was very fluid and strong energy moving through me from root to crown.

4 - Goddess of the Vine – I was seeing imagery of plants and big leaves. I could feel the goddess energy & faces started to appear in the leaves. As I started to draw this, the face shifted and seemed to challenge me to keep going.

5 - Medicine Motion - This was a frenetic drawing. I was attempting to capture a lot of different motion and energy all happening at once. There was snake energy and waves and wind and fire… plants and the ebb and flow of tides. There were waves of powerful emotions and awareness of the cycles and the fullness of the moon.

6 - Masha – pencil sketch - This was a quick sketch of Masha as he mentally prepared for ceremony.

7 - Shara Kene Pattern - Each group of people have their own specific Kene designs. I took one of the symbols from these Huni Kuins and created my own digital pattern.

8 - My main art project was a painting that I started during ceremony with Masha & Txana Masha. The background is fire and night. This is the underpainting of the paje.

9 - This is the paje within the flames, as I paint more detail. He is stillness within the motion.

10 - Here is the Masha in close-up detail.

11 - Though not yet finished, this is the current state of the painting. The aya root is above his head, feeding the vision. The root that I used for reference looked like a tree, so I tried to capture that. He is flanked by snakes that carry the energy of the medicine and tell the story.

I have been fascinated with nature and our connection with all living things. I have always had an affinity for indigenous cultures and people. I have attended pow-wows in my country and I have worked with indigenous pajes and shamans from the Amazon. I had the wonderful opportunity to study in this Maloka Digital container, through Academia Brasileira de Arte Visionária. I have learned so much and feel empowered to do more research about the ways of the Huni Kuin people. I feel that there is so much wisdom in their ways and I hope to be able to share some of that wisdom through my artworks.

New Hyde Park, NY USA | Nascimento: June 5, 1964

Cidade Residência | Fitchburg, MA USA

Território Pesquisado | Acre, Brasil Huni Kuî

Shara has been a professional artist for over 30 years, painting on canvases, walls & the human body. She uses vibrant color & depth to transform ordinary people, walls or streets into bright visions of hope and empowerment. Shara has a bold, graphic & colorful style, while also portraying ephemeral, less tangible concepts in a visual language; making the unseen seen. Through her paintings, we can see imagined worlds and facets of our higher selves. She often uses sacred geometry and abstract designs to express these patterns of connection and sustainability.

Shara has been fascinated with all patterns in nature and in life. How does a body move? How can I express that flow? What makes someone feel valued and vital? Permaculture design has informed a lot of my recent work. The concept of companion planting is the way that plants are stronger when supported by other plants. Humans, like the natural world, sustain themselves through collaboration and support, building stronger communities. My great passion is to use my skills to bring people together and help to empower them to achieve their highest purpose. Art is a great healer.

I did my research of the Huni Kuin people. They are an indigenous group of people living in Peru & northern Brazil. In Brazil, there are approximately 17,000 Huni Kuin, distributed across 130 villages and 12 territories. They represent 46% of the state's indigenous population and are known as guardians of the forest. The name Huni Kuin translates to “true people”. They speak the Kaxinawá language of the Pano language family, though some of them have learned Portugese in order to be able to communicate with those outside their remote villages. Their name, Kaxinawá, though often used by outsiders, was originally a derogatory term meaning "bat people" or "people who walk at night." The Huni Kuin prefer their own self-designation, which reflects their cultural identity and deeply rooted traditions.

I will be speaking, specifically, of the community that lives deep in the forest, on the Humaita River, Kaxinawa Reserve, in the state of Acre, Brazil. They practice hunting, fishing, gathering, and swidden agriculture. They live in harmony with the natural world around them and are in tune with the cycles and rhythms of the forest. Everyone works toward the needs of the community as a whole & everyone has what they need. They are very resilient.

They lived in isolation for centuries until the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the rubber trade brought the Peruvian caucho (rubber) extractors and Brazilian rubber tappers into their territories. They exploited the natural resources of the land and many of the Huni Kuin were enslaved, displaced or killed. It was a violent time and many suffered. The rubber trade also exposed the tribe to new diseases, such as measles, which killed 75-80% of the adult population. Some groups tried to resist & fight the rubber bosses. Others retreated deeper into the forest, opting for isolation over subjugation.

They did manage to retain a lot of their cultural identity, traditions & language. Some even returned to create new villages, sometimes merging with other communities. Even now, there are challenges with deforestation, land conflicts and cultural assimilation, all amplified by the effects of colonization and exploitation. In the face of all of this, they advocate for their rights and work to preserve their heritage, sharing their knowledge, traditions & spiritual practices.

Art plays an important role in the Huni Kuin culture. It binds & connects them. They have traditions of painting their faces and bodies for celebrations and ceremony. They weave patterns in their fabric that represent their medicine and lore. They are currently working to share about their culture and practices through visual art, to help with global healing, as well as to raise awareness of their struggles.
It is through this outreach, that I had the opportunity to meet and work with Uncle Masha & Txana Masha in New Jersey & Massachusetts, in the United States of America. I sat in ceremonies with them and learned a bit about some of their practices.

We did several Hampaya Ceremonies, that are done for cleansing and clearing the throat & tongue for clarity in communication. The paje, Masha, placed a paste of hot peppers & yucca onto my tongue, using the beak of their sacred japini bird. Then, with my tongue stuck out, I salivated into a bucket for 15-20 minutes, releasing toxins. There was a circle of 15-20 people who all participated in the ceremony. After we all released the saliva, we shared songs and chants and participant sang or shared a poem. We were all asked to use our voices, to share and to be witnessed and heard. It was a beautiful ceremony, during which, I heard the singing of birds and smelled beautiful flowers.

During my time with the Mashas, I also experienced Hape, Sananga & Nixi Pae. All had different qualities and healing uses. Ultimately, they were all about opening one’s senses and awareness to subtle energies and to the human healing potential.

I was asked to paint about these experiences and to help visually document their practices, to tell visual stories of their culture and medicines. I have not visited their village yet, but plan to go in November. Then, I can see how they live, day to day, and be a part of their world.

Sananga is utilized as a healing eye drop, it is the juice extracted from the roots of an Amazonic plant, "Mata Heins" from the Huni Kuin dialect. From inside of the roots, a juice in decoction is extracted, which is utilized to cure the "Panemas" spiritual diseases. The warrior Indians, before going hunting, will take a drop in each eye, making their perception sharpened, so they can perceive subtle movements in the dense forest Sananga works in the main energetic healing ways: Physical and Spiritual.

Hape (pronounced “ha-peh”), a powerful, cleansing snuff used as part of important medicinal rituals. This medicinal tobacco helps focus and sharpen the mind, also clears a person of distracting, bad energies in preparation for intention setting. It clears sinuses of mucus and bacteria, thereby helping to combat colds and respiratory ailments. It provides a calming, grounding effect on the emotions that last much longer than the initial sensation.

After consecrating the medicines we integrate and celebrate together with a sacred song circle led by Txana Masha with traditional Huni Kuin Cantoria that has been passed down for thousands of years.
From @hunikuinwomen


Kene (graphics) are one of the most important cultural elements of the Huni Kuin people. Their meanings, uses and stories go far beyond mere drawings.

“For example, the duality in the relationships between the background and figure of the kene, a characteristic responsible for giving more than one name to the same graphic pattern, demonstrates the vision of the duality of the world, of beings and of the relationships that permeate them.

According to the myth of the Huni Kuin people, the art of weaving was taught to the women by the boa constrictor Sidika. A woman met her on the road & was told to bring this wisdom back to her village. It became the women’s task to harvest, spin, dye the cotton and weave the pieces that represent the Huni Kuin people and carry their strength. The process is accompanied by songs and prayers to the spiders—believed to be the original weavers— asking for their guidance and strength. The master of weaving and also of the Huni Kuin ritual songs is called AINBU KENEYA, ‘woman with drawing’ or TXANA IBU AINBU, ‘owner of the japins’. The natural dyes used in the process are derived from plants like mahogany bark, banana hearts, and cherries, reflecting the community’s profound relationship with the forest.

The Kenes are the patterns that represent elements of nature, like sacred animals and plants. Each community has their specific patterns that can be recognized. These symbols are used in weavings and beadwork, as well as the kene painting that they do on people’s faces & bodies during celebrations and ceremonies for spiritual protection.

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sharaosgood@gmail.com

@sharaosgoodart