Chonon Bensho’s “Biri biri imaboi / Your fingertips will glow” is currently on view at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) in Tribeca, New York, through August 29. Curated by Starasea Camara, the exhibition brings together drawings, sound, poetry, and publications reflecting Bensho’s ongoing engagement with kené as a visual language and a form of knowledge.

At the center of the exhibition is Bensho’s exploration of kené, the intricate geometric language through which Shipibo-Konibo knowledge, healing, and ancestral memory are transmitted across generations. Ink and graphite drawings are presented alongside poema cantos—sung poems in audio recordings—and selected publications. The exhibition takes its title from Bensho’s poem “Kewe nete,” in which drawing kené becomes an act of spiritual transmission: to sit down and design is to make the fingertips glow.





Installation view of Chonon Bensho: “Biri biri imaboi / Your fingertips will glow”, ISLAA, New York, 2026. Photo: Marc Tatti.