THE WRITING OF THE IMAGE-FOREST: GEOPOLITICS, COGNITIVE CAPITALISM, AND THE RECLAMATION OF VISUAL SOVEREIGNTY IN THE AMAZON

Abstract

This article analyzes Amazonian illustration as a field of symbolic, cultural, and economic dispute, understanding the region as a "cultural palimpsest" where ancestral cosmologies and contemporary flows converge. It argues that illustration transcends representational technique to establish itself as a political practice of visual sovereignty, mediating tensions between collective memory and the dynamics of cognitive capitalism. The investigation discusses the historical invisibility of Northern Brazilian production and the emergence of an aesthetic counter-discourse grounded in iconotext and critical intermediality. It examines the impact of symbolic extractivism on local producers, highlighting asymmetries in value chains and the structural precariousness of professional practice. Through a qualitative analysis of trajectories and artistic works, the study explores fundamental paths - from Moacir Andrade to Flávio Dutka, Otoniel Oliveira, Luiz Andrade, and Nilberto Jorge and the IUKYTÁIAS Collective - while investigating the analytical category of "caboclo psychedelia". The study concludes that visual reclamation is an ethical imperative and a gesture of historical justice, ensuring the Amazon the right to its own image and the autonomy of its territorial narratives.