Aislan Pankararu (Petrolândia, PE, Brazil, 1990) was born in Petrolândia, a town in the inlands of the state of Pernambuco, and is originally from the Pankararu indigenous people. In 2019, on the verge of completing his medical degree at the University of Brasilia, he returned to drawing, an activity that dates back to his early school years. This resumption catalyzed a production that, since then, has developed continuously, expanding into painting and installation. Today he dedicates himself exclusively to his artistic career and lives and works in Salvador, Bahia.
The starting point for Aislan Pankararu's work is the living memory of his origins and the desire to think imaginatively about the grammar of his ancestry. Drawing and painting initially on kraft paper and later on canvas and linen (as well as experimenting with leather), the artist uses traditional pictorial resources from his people's body painting to create his strokes and figures. In the three-dimensional field, references to the materials and elements that make up their rituals and the landscape of the caatinga make up installations and sculptural works. In their vastness, the works evoke the visual and symbolic richness of the Pankararu, echoing their struggle and resistance, as well as the vigor of their cosmology.
In 2020, in partnership with the Humanization Commission of the University Hospital of Brasília (HUB), where he studied, he held his first exhibition, Abá Pukuá (“Abá” means “man” in Tupi-Guarani and “Pukuá” means sky in Kayapó). In 2021, he inaugurated the Yeposanóng exhibition at the Indigenous Peoples' Memorial in Brasília. In the same year, he illustrated the texts for the Teatro e povos indígenas project, launched by n-1 publisher house; took part in the Kaaysá Residency , in São Sebastião, São Paulo; and created the illustration that was used as the visual identity for the Indígenas.BR music festival. He also produced the illustrations for the 1st Festival of Indigenous Films from Brazil, which took place at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
In 2023, he took part in an artist's residency at People's Palace Projects in London, where he created the solo show Feel it at the end of his stay. In the same year, he opened Aislan Pankararu: mitocôndria ancestral, at the gallery in São Paulo.
In 2024, he opened the solo show Aislan Pankararu: Endless River at the Salon 94 gallery in New York. That same year, he won the Pipa Prize.
More recently, in 2025, he opened the solo show Caatinga Fractal e o Encontro da Terra Seca, Água Doce e Água Salgada at Casa Rosa in Salvador.
Among the group shows in which he has participated, the following stand out: Ensaios sobre paisagem (Inhotim, Brumadinho, 2024), Cosmo/ Chão (Oficina Francisco Brennand, Recife, 2024), Histórias indígenas (Museu de Arte de São Paulo - MASP, São Paulo, 2023); Refundação (Galeria Reocupa - Ocupação 9 de Julho, São Paulo, 2023); Brasil Futuro: As Formas da Democracia (Museu Nacional da República, Brasília; Espaço Cultural Casa das Onze Janelas, Belém; Centro Cultural Ferrão, Salvador; Museu de Arte do Rio - MAR, Rio de Janeiro, 2023); Um século de agora (Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, 2022).
His work can be found in public and private collections, including: MASP (São Paulo, SP, Brasil), J.P. Morgan (New York, USA), Itamaraty Collection - Embassy of Brazil in London; Bernardo Paz Collection (Brumadinho, MG, Brazil), Maracá Institute (São Paulo, SP, Brazil); Banco do Nordeste do Brasil - BNB Collection (Fortaleza, CE, Brazil).