△ Hain △

A canoe in the middle of a pond, surrounded by different types of trees and nature. Further, there are giant sculptures of Selk'nam tribe members with their bodies painted in red and white 

A canoe has been included in Hain to invite viewers to explore the space as the nomadic Selk'nam tribe did, in the Tierra del Fuego islands and canals. A brown, textured wooden canoe sits below the viewer as they navigate the space.

3D model of a deity called Ulen in a Hain ritual. The model has a wooden texture and is colored in deep red with white stripes. The head is in a rough cone shape. 

A model of a Selk'nam with a costume of a deity called Matan, in a Hain ritual. Inside the model there are black and white pictures of Sel'knam people performing a Hain ritual, back in the 19th century. 

English transcription:
The Selk'nam had no chiefs. But were instead led by wise man (fathers of the world) who were believed to possess spiritual power over people, weather, and events. The tribe's most sacred ceremony was the coming of age, or the Hain. Adult male members of the tribe would be painted with red, black, and white paint, and don fur, down and bark costumes, impersonating much feared spirits. Over a period of days or weeks, they'd conduct a complex initiation to transition boys into manhood.

Spanish translation: Los Selk'nam no tenían jefes. Pero en cambio fueron guiados por hombres sabios (padres del mundo) que se creía poseían poder espiritual sobre las personas, el clima y las circunstancias. La ceremonia más sagrada de la tribu era la de la mayoría de edad, o el Hain. Los miembros masculinos adultos de la tribu pintaban sus cuerpos con pintura roja, negra y blanca, y usaban atuendos de piel, plumón y corteza, haciéndose pasar por espíritus muy temidos. Durante un período de días o semanas, llevaban a cabo una iniciación compleja para celebrar la transición de los niños a la adultez.

3D model of a deity called Matan, in a Hain ritual. The model has a wood-like texture and is painted in deep red with wide white stripes across the calves, thighs, waist, and forehead. The figure wears a tall cone-shaped mask. 

A tree with roots touching the water, surrounded by nature. Behind a Selk'nam model of a deity called Halaháche (by Selk'nam woman) and Kótaix (by Selk'nam man) in a Hain ritual. The model has a wooden texture and is colored in deep red with white stripes. Its arms are outstretched and it wears a mask with a round flat face and a t-bar coming out of the top roughly to the width of the elbows

3D model of a deity called Halaháche (by Selk'nam woman) and Kótaix (by Selk'nam man) in a Hain ritual. The model has a wooden texture and is colored in deep red with white stripes. Its arms are outstretched and it wears a mask with a round flat face and a t-bar coming out of the top roughly to the width of the elbows. 

A black and white image of an indigenous woman's face dark black and silver hair and her fist covering her mouth looking directly into the camera. Kiepja was born in the late 1800s, a century when repression and genocide by European settlers had begun to decimate the Selk'nam people. She inherited shaman status from a maternal uncle whose spirit came to her in a dream.  She was the last Selk’nam shaman, and died in 1966.

The Selk'nam, also known as the Ona, lived in the Patagonian region of southern Argentina and Chile, including Tierra del Fuego islands. They were one of the last aboriginal groups in South America to be reached by Westerners, in the late 19th century, when the Chilean and Argentine governments began efforts to explore and integrate Tierra del Fuego (literally, the "land of fire" based on early European explorers observing Selk'nam smoke from their bonfires).

The Selk'nam had little contact with Europeans until settlers arrived in the late 19th century. These newcomers developed a great part of the land of Tierra del Fuego as large ranches, depriving the natives of their ancestral hunting areas. Selk'nam, who considered the sheep herds to be game rather than private property (which they did not have as a concept) hunted the sheep. The ranch owners considered this to be poaching, and paid armed groups or militia to hunt down and kill the Selk'nam, in what is now called the Selk'nam Genocide. To receive their bounty, such groups had to bring back the ears of victims.

The Hain was a rite of passage to adulthood for men and the body painting used among the young boys and the representations of deities executed by older men, might be one of the most iconic and spread features of the Selk’nam culture.

The Hain was a rite of passage to adulthood for men and the body painting used among the young boys and the representations of deities executed by older men, might be one of the most iconic and spread features of the Selk’nam culture.

With the permission of the Chilean government in 1889, eleven Selk’nam natives including an 8-year-old were taken to Europe to be exhibited in human zoos. They were photographed, measured, weighed, and were expected to perform every day. Sometimes 6 to 8 times a day.

English translation:
The extinction was not an accident. It was a desired outcome, an intention. A purpose of the companies: To take Tierra del Fuego. Clear the Selk'nam nuisance. Get rid of the hindrance: the songs, the bodies, the story. Their way of living. Free and loose. Fluidity of Karukinká species. Without them, what are pastures? They can no longer sing. The Selk'nam is gone. And one by one the species left. The guanaco, the mollusk and the grass. Karukinká.

X is a poem by Chilean artist and poet Cecilia Vicuña I read in Spanish. Written in the 90s, and published in 2016, speaks about the Selk'nam people.

Spanish transcription: No fué un accidente la extinción. Fue un efecto buscado, una intención. Un propósito de las compañías: Tomarse Tierra del Fuego. Borrar el estorbo Selk'nam. Des hacerse del estorbo: sus canciones, su cuerpo, su historia. Su modo e’ vivir. Libre y suelto. Fluidez de las especies de Karukinká! Ya sin ellos, los pastos ¿qué son? Ya no pueden cantar. Se fué el Selk’nam. Y una a una se fueron las especies. El guanaco, el molusco y el pasto. Karukinká.