Joana Amora
Artist-gardener
The Secret Pavilion - Revoada
The Secret Pavilion – Revoada, 2024 — Impact documentary (HD video, color, sound) — Work-in-progress short film, 3'28' — Documentary produced during the Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
The Secret Pavilion is a decolonial impact documentary initiated during the 2024 Venice Art Biennale as part of REVOADA, a residency and artistic project developed in collaboration with Indigenous artists from Brasil and Colombia.
During Célia Tupinambá’s participation in the Venice Biennale, REVOADA brought Colombian Indigenous artists Estefania García Pineda, Edinson Javier Quiñones and Aimema Úai to Isola della Certosa in Venice. The residency created a space for a minga — a collective gathering bringing together Indigenous people from different communities to exchange knowledge and discuss shared concerns, political strategies and the needs of their territories and peoples.
Invited by Célia Tupinambá, the documentary follows these encounters, rituals and collective actions, reclaiming the restitution of sacred objects and ancestral belongings held in European museums.
The project was developed in collaboration with Plan D, Minga Decolonial and the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, and its actions and research extend across Venice, Basel, Berlin, Madrid and Bogotá.
Documentary by Joana Amora in collaboration with Carolina Leal.
Our
Story
My role:
I directed, filmed and edited The Secret Pavilion, developing the documentary throughout my participation in REVOADA during the 2024 Venice Biennale. I followed and documented the encounters, rituals, conversations and political actions taking place between Indigenous artists from Brasil and Colombia. Filmmaker Carolina Leal accompanied the process as second camera and provided support during the filming.
Community benefit:
The project creates an audiovisual record of Indigenous-led discussions, encounters and political strategies around cultural restitution, helping these experiences circulate beyond the immediate context of REVOADA. It contributes to connecting artists, communities and decolonial networks across Latin America and Europe, while supporting broader public discussion around museum collections, colonial histories and the return of sacred objects..