Abel Rodríguez, Renowned Amazon Basin Artist and Indigenous Plant Expert, Dies at 74
A Tribute to Abel Rodríguez: Sage, Artist, and Guardian of Amazonian Memory
The artistic and ecological legacy of Abel Rodríguez, the Nonuya and Muinane elder known by his ancestral name Mogaje Guihu, leaves an indelible mark on Indigenous knowledge, botanical artistry, and environmental awareness. Rodríguez passed away peacefully on April 9 in Bogotá, Colombia, holding the hand of his beloved wife, Doña Elisa. Though his exact year of birth remains unclear—variously listed between 1934 and 1941—what endures with certainty is the richness of his life’s work and the deep reverence he earned across Indigenous, scientific, and international art communities.
A Life Rooted in Memory and Nature
Born in La Chorrera, a town nestled along the Igara Paraná River in the Colombian Amazon, Rodríguez was immersed in the rhythms of the forest from a young age. A member of the Indigenous Nonuya community, he was bestowed with the title of “Plant Name-Giver,” designating his intimate responsibility to preserve and share traditional knowledge about the region’s endemic plants and their uses. Under the wing of his uncle, a sabedor (wise man), Rodríguez learned to identify, describe, and categorize flora based on centuries of collective ecological understanding.
His knowledge spanned the forest’s physical, medicinal, and cosmological attributes—linking plants not only to healing purposes but also to their spiritual and ecological interconnections with animals and the land. He possessed an encyclopedic knowledge that, for decades, lived primarily in his mind, passed down orally and by lived experience.
Crisis and Transformation Through Art
In the 1990s, Rodríguez and his family were displaced by escalating conflict in the Amazon, spurred by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and their exploitation of land and natural resources. Forced to relocate to the outskirts of Bogotá, Rodríguez found himself severed from his ancestral home. To preserve the knowledge that risked being lost through displacement and growing deforestation, his longtime collaborators at Fundación Tropenbos Colombia encouraged him to document his memories through drawing.
Despite initial hesitation—Rodríguez was neither trained nor self-identified as an artist—he began transcribing the Amazon from memory. With ink on paper, he captured elaborate portraits of trees, vines, birds, and landscapes that only existed in his mind. His work became a living archive of a world under threat.
Rodríguez’s rich botanical illustrations are not only enchanting in their detail but also steeped in ancient ecological wisdom. From leafy cascades to vibrant fauna nestled among towering trees, his work offers a profound vision of a biologically diverse and spiritually vibrant universe. He once reflected, “I remember every tree, how to take hold of the branches to extend them to their full size, the color of the trees and the color of the bark.”
Emerging on the Global Stage
Rodríguez’s first exhibition took place in 2008 at Bogotá’s Museo Botero as part of a group show entitled Historia natural y política. His international breakthrough came with the Prince Claus Award in 2014, recognizing his role in potentializing Indigenous knowledge through art. Following this, his work was showcased worldwide, including at major art events such as Documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens (2017), the 34th São Paulo Biennial (2021), the Biennales of Toronto and Sydney, and the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea.
Though he found widespread recognition and acclaim in the art world, Rodríguez never identified himself as an artist. “In my language,” he explained, “we speak of knowledge, work, intelligence, and craft — that is what is behind images.” His humility reflected not just his cultural grounding but a broader worldview in which art is inseparable from life, memory, and community.
Botanical Illustration as Cultural Preservation
Rodríguez’s artworks are also acts of resistance—meticulously detailed records of a rich forest ecosystem enduring in the face of exploitation and ecological crisis. In many ways, his paintings function as memoryscapes, anchoring generations of Indigenous cosmology and ethnobotanical knowledge in a form legible to new audiences. From labeled botanical schematics to lush forest scenes teeming with interspecies life, Rodríguez’s countenance of the Amazon is as instructive as it is awe-inspiring.
His work has played a vital role in promoting Indigenous knowledge as a scientific and cultural resource. Under Fundación Tropenbos, his contributions have aided in forestry research, environmental conservation policy, and cross-cultural dialogues between scientists and Indigenous wisdom keepers—a bridge built with ink and memory.
Legacy and Remembrance
Though he is now gone, Abel Rodríguez’s legacy continues in his children and grandchildren—some of whom carry on his traditions and artistic practice, such as his son Wilson, an artist working under the name Aycoobo. His profound impact also lives on in the institutions, exhibitions, and organizations committed to decolonizing knowledge