Peruvian artist uses virtual reality to preserve Amazonian myths

Artist Rember Yahuarcani launched an exhibition in Lima, Peru, that combines large-scale paintings with virtual reality to share the ancestral stories of the Uitoto people.

The show, titled "In the Beginning There Was Only Water and Darkness," explores the creation myths of the Aimeni clan, also known as La Garza Blanca. Yahuarcani uses these digital tools to represent a worldview where humans, plants, animals, and spirits are interconnected.

The exhibition centers on the chacra, which serves as both a physical farming space and a spiritual site for transmitting knowledge in Uitoto tradition. Yahuarcani describes the chacra as a magical place where people can touch and see the invisible. The artist, who was born in Pebas, Loreto, in 1985, draws his work from the oral traditions of his ancestors.

This project marks his first venture into digital art and was developed in collaboration with the Fundación Tres Pinos in Buenos Aires. The exhibition is part of the first edition of the Digital Art Festival at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Lima (MAC Lima). The public can visit the gallery at the Centro Cultural de la Universidad de Lima until 10 December 2026.

The artist aims to use technology as a new language to reclaim indigenous perspectives and narrate his own culture's history.