CHENEPARI

CHENEPARI is an audio experiment exploring cycles of decay, renewal, and interconnectedness. This work-in-progress amplifies the voices of Indigenous peoples from the Amazon—Tukano, Bará, Baniwa, and Mura—alongside the chinamperos, farmers of the floating gardens in Xochimilco, Mexico, as they reflect on creation, destruction, resilience, and care. Alongside this, Amazonian scientists document shifting ecologies, revealing the interconnections between traditional knowledge and scientific research. The piece creates a sonic bridge between regions and species, revealing how human and more-than-human life resists social and environmental degradation. Field recordings of water, decaying landscapes, and fungal electromagnetic activity capture ecosystems affected by pollution and environmental degradation. Within the recordings, a spectral presence emerges—the Cheneparis, beings born from the convergence of the Chaneques, guardian spirits of the land in Xochimilco, and the Yurupari, a powerful spirit linked to music, sound, and transformation in the Amazon. They safeguard the land’s lifeblood, weaving through the roots of the chinampas and the fungal mycelium beneath the Amazonian forest floor. The audio piece intertwines Amazonian and Xochimilco biodiversity, reflecting both the vitality and fragility of these biomes. It’s an invitation to deep listening and reflection on humanity’s relationship with the more-than-human world, imagining futures where collective care guides new forms of coexistence.

Developed through fieldwork and research during the LABVERDE and AKI AORA residencies