In Venezuelan Festival, Bodies Become Art

Venezuela recently hosted the 4th annual World Body Art Encounter (Encuentro mundial de arte corporal). Participating in the event were 32 artists from 16 different countries. After a kickoff in Caracas last Friday, the event will tour different parts of the country.

By some accounts, body painting is a practice that dates back hundreds of years in Venezuela. The artist Penelope Rivera from Mexico said, “Venezuela is a country which has a lot of body art with ethnic characteristics, and I think we have to rescue them and integrate them into modern life.”