Nhemombaraete reko rã’i by José Verá

Nhemombaraete Reko Rã’i: fortalecendo a sabedoria (“strengthening knowledge”) is a bilingual book in Guaraní and Portuguese, written by José Verá, and published by Riacho. in partnership with the Association for Studies and Projects with Indigenous and Minority Peoples.

This book is the result of three years of collaborative work, and many others in the production of images. It brings together stories and visionary drawings of the greatest Mbya Guarani made in Tekoa Yvyty Porã, or “Campo Molhado”, Barra do Ouro Indigenous (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil).

“It is not easy for me to draw, because if the message does not reach me, I do not work. I have to wait for the message. If the message does not arrive, I do other work. If I am doing other work and the message arrives, I have to stop and draw the picture” says José Verá.

The origin of the sun, the moon, the stars, and their entities, the territorial life forms, plants, human and non-human animals life. The stories were dictated by Verá to the Guarani teachers, who later reviewed and translated into the Portuguese language. The book was built collaboratively, through visits to the community with printed and digital prototypes to decide the publication criteria.

“Our way of learning is the tree, that’s why we learn under the tree. Our teacher is the Ipe tree. From the tree we acquire knowledge. The tree is the beginning of our knowledge.” – José Verá

Guaraní transcription, translation and revision: Francisco Moreira Alves, Gerônimo Morinico Franco, Romário Benites.
Graphic design and organization: Dani Eizirik, Iana Scopel, Katia Zanini and Sergio Guidoux.
The main typeface is Andada ht, which was developed especially for the Guaraní language by Carolina Giovagnoli for Huerta Tipográfica. It’s paired with Alegreya Sans.
Photos by Sergio Guidoux.
The project was realized through the Public Notice for the Creation and Formation of the Diversity of Cultures made with resources from the Aldir Blanc Law No. 14.017 / 20.