Cosmic Poetics: Ethnoastronomy in Contemporary Art

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on the relationship between art, nature, and the cosmos, based on the ancestral knowledge of Brazil’s indigenous and original peoples. Drawing on the principles of ethnoastronomy — a field that investigates the connections between these peoples’ symbolic dimensions and the universe, their rituals, and practices — the study demonstrates how narratives about the sky and its natural cycles shape ways of existence and modes of relating to time and space. By observing the celestial landscape and its myriad stars, these early astronomers recorded phenomena objectively, transforming astral wonder into communication aimed at sociocultural aspects such as planting and daily organization. By approaching this knowledge through the lens of art, this work seeks to raise awareness of our relationship with the universe and expand artistic experiences that connect art with cosmologies rooted in prehistoric knowledge from the Global South, integrating ancestry in a critical and poetic reading. It concludes that such reflection is essential for artistic and scientific learning in light of this knowledge.