Digital Territories - Young Indigenous Voices in a New Media Age

Over eighteen months, we explored how young Kichwa people in Ecuador and Mapuche people in Argentina and Chile use digital technology and social media to create, share and consume cultural products that express their experiences and worldviews. 

These artists navigate complex cultural territories, challenging stereotypes that view Indigenous cultures as static relics of the past. Their work demonstrates how Indigenous identity can be rooted in ancestral knowledge whilst dynamically engaging with contemporary realities. At the same time, digital platforms become spaces for denouncing the inequalities that affect their communities: racism, poverty, extractive industries in their territories, linguistic discrimination, and pressure to assimilate. 

The exhibition shows how digital technology enables new and varied possibilities for cultural innovation and political activism for young Indigenous people, even if social media and streaming platforms remain private businesses that also amplify racist and reactionary voices.  

As discussions about decolonising technology gain momentum globally, these young Mapuche and Kichwa creators offer crucial insights into understanding how marginalised communities leverage technology for cultural survival across generations, contributing to vital conversations about cultural resistance, youth agency and the future of Indigenous movements in our connected world. 

(Credits: The exhibition was curated by Ignacio Aguiló and Dylan Diego Bradbury. The website was designed and built by John McCrory, Digital Exhibitions Curator, The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester. Thanks go to the artists who contributed to the exhibition).