Kássia Borges’ art investigates indigenousness and resistance, women, genealogy and healing. Clay is a primary material, but she is also a member of the collective MAHKU, or Movimento Dos Artistas Huni Kuin [Huni Kuin Artists’ Movement], whose members translate into painting the traditional songs of the Huni Kuin people, born out of visions seen during the spiritual ceremonies of nixi pae (ayahuasca).

K. Borges obtained a Master’s degree in Visual Arts from the University of Rio Grande do Sul in 2003, a PhD in Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development from the Federal University of Amazonas in 2017, and also holds a degree in Political Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia. Since the 1980s, she has fought against the prejudices associated with her identities as a woman, an indigenous person and an artist. Her corpotes [body-pots, 1988] and placas [plates, 1989] reproduce the oppression suffered by her people: she crushes the sculptures or marks them with her hand, then covers them with motifs taken from Karajá body paintings – an artform traditionally practised by women – thereby demonstrating the existence of a specifically female indigenous resistance. In 2000, her installation O muro [The Wall], made from fifteen tonnes of unbaked earth, concealed the façade of the Ido Finotti Gallery in the municipality of Uberlândia, blocking access. The work symbolised the invisibilisation of indigenous peoples despite their essential presence in Brazilian society. The artist went on to deepen her research into body painting, isolating certain graphic elements, then rendering them in sculpture in installations that command the space, as seen in 500 de invasão [500 Years of Invasion, 2003] and La douleur et le délice d’être [The Pain and Delight of Being, 2007]. This gesture of transformation that turns two-dimensional paintings into three-dimensional forms is a non-violent way of reclaiming territory stolen from natives.

In 2018 K. Borges married Ibã Huni Kuin (1964–), a shaman, artist and one of the spiritual and political leaders of the Huni Kuin people, and joined the MAHKU collective. As part of the collective and in her own work, she delves into her own intimate relationship with nature and reinstates women’s place at the heart of indigenous myths, as we can see in her ceramic installations Yube Shanu (2022) and Mulher Jiboia [Serpent-Woman, 2023], as well as in paintings Cura das aguas [Healing of the Waters, 2024] and Canto de cura [Healing Song, 2024].

The artist is also a member of the group Curandoras, a word that signifies both “curators” and “healers”, founded in 2022 by artist and researcher Naine Terena (1980–). As federators of the contemporary indigenous artistic movement, the women of the group task themselves with “healing through art”. With her ceramic totems Somos muitos [We are Many, 2022] and Rezo da mulher Pajé [Prayer of the Healer Woman, 2023], the artist pays homage to the contemporary indigenous women attempting to enact positive change in the world by becoming healers, shamans, spiritual leaders and activists.

Since 1987, K. Borges has been involved in the activities of the Museum of Indigenous Peoples of Uberlândia. In 2022, she was named Associate Curator of the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP). Her works are held in Brazil’s public collections, at the Goiânia Museum of Contemporary Art, at the Pinacoteca São Paulo and at the MASP.