A doctoral field research was conducted in Brazil from 1985 to 1986. This study was part of the requirement for a Ph.D. in art at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA under the spervision of Dr. Stephen Kowaleski. Financial support for the doctoral study and the field research was granted by the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Tecnology -- CNPQ (Brazilian National Council of Research and Technology). This research was conducted in the major museums in Brazil and in the village of Corrego Grande in the Indigenous Area of Gomes Carneiro under the protection of the FUNAI (National Indian Foundation).

The purpose of this study was to identify the close relationship between artistic expressions of a small-scale society and its systems of cultural organization and beliefs. The Bororo (or Boe) group of Central Brazil, Mato Grosso, was chosen as the most suitable society because of its magnificent art pieces and their tightly integrated socio-political and religious systems. Feather work, the most important of Bororo artistic expression, symbolically documents and indentifies individuals, social positions, and religious affiliations in the society and in the universe.

A complete description of a large number of Bororo feather pieces was categorized by clans, sub-clans, and lineages. Through color combination, materials, chromatic values, and shapes, the feather pieces convey aesthetic, social, political, and religious messages. The paramount emphasis of this study is that aesthetic representations are product of cultural belief systems that select from and categorize a natural environment. Art embodies visual communications, providing balance, harmony, beauty, and cultural meaning for the relationships among society's members as well as between the individual mind and the cosmos.

All photographs on this site are the exclusive property of Elizabeth Zarur (except where stated otherwise). They are made available for educational purposes only. The photographs on this site may not be copied, reproduced, redistributed, manipulated, projected, used or altered in any way without prior express written permission..