This article is based on Art4Biodiv project, that seeks to renew perspectives on biodiversity governance by Indigenous knowledge, visual art, and legal-ecological analysis. The project focuses primarily on the Charrúa and Guaraní communities of Uruguay, whose cultural heritage and ornamental traditions remain understudied despite their influence on national identity. Historical erasure through genocide and European-immigrant narratives has obscured these traditions, yet the 2023 census revealed that 6.4% of Uruguayans claim Indigenous ancestry. In Western science, ornamentation—despite being a fundamental element in cultural transmission—is often viewed as “secondary”, “non-essential” to narrative construction, or even “anti-narrative”. Resisting this colonial marginalization, Art4Biodiv revitalizes visual narratives by positioning ornamentation as a system of sequential art expression that encodes ecological, spiritual, and cultural knowledge into multimedia storytelling. The project employs a multi-method approach: (1) analysis of international biodiversity treaties to reveal colonial framings; (2) participatory fieldwork with Indigenous communities to co-design research activities; (3) development of data visualizations to make governance structures more accessible; and (4) artistic co-creation—producing infographics, multimedia sequential artworks, and an animated documentary film to encode ecological knowledge and amplify Indigenous cosmovisions. As a complementary study case, the project extends to Bolivian ecological and agrobiodiversity traditions, integrating co-creation with plants and non-human entities and broadening its scope within a wider Amazonian cultural framework. Ultimately, this research co-creation project aims to transcend representation, transforming perception of biodiversity and share these views in the negotiating fora for biodiversity conservation in order to design and implement international rights and obligations that truly respect and protect biodiversity and ecosystems.
Gencheva et al. (Thu,) studied this question.