Maskbook campaign for the 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement

The mask by Néle Azevedo was ordered from the French government to celebrate the five years of COP21 and used by Sonia Guajajara, an indigenous leader.

Mask book name: life for the whole planet!

Indigenous people are the first protectors of the forest. They see themselves as the very extension of what they consider to be the earth-forest. Not a source of income but a breathing being gifted with a soul. I used laurel leaves picked in the wild. On these leaves I embroidered the names of indigenous ethnic groups that dwell in the forests of the lands which came to be called Brazil. I borrowed the laurel’s symbolism, originating in Greece, cradle of the western civilization. I embroidered the leaves with the names of the peoples who keep the forests standing and, in so doing, enable life on earth.

– Néle Azevedo