Book tells the story of Tybyra, the first victim of homophobia in Brazil

The multi-artist from Rio Grande do Norte, Juão Nyn, knows the importance of telling the story of his people and goes even further in his new book. “Tybyra: Uma Tragédia Indígena Brasileira” (Editora Selo do Burro, R$30) recounts the first case of homophobia recorded in the lands plundered by the Portuguese, also known as Brazil.

The year is 1614, São Luís do Maranhão is the place. Stuck at the mouth of a cannon, about to be executed for sodomy by French soldiers, Tybyra, a Tupinambá indigenous woman, recalls her own life and utters her last words as if, after lightning, the sound of thunder came from her mouth.

This is Juão Nyn’s debut play, a fiction based on the symbolic case that shows how European colonization erased tolerance, buried coexistence and hid the ways of life of the true owners of Brazil. Tybyra had no idea that there was something “wrong” to be executed.

This is because homophobia arrives on Portuguese caravels, guided not only by navigators, but also by the Catholic cross. In a time when only one God was the law, Tybyra made the innocent mistake of being who she was.

The 100-page work was translated from Tupy Guarany Moderno by Luã Apyka, with revisions by Eliza Para Martins, Cleiray Wera Fernando and Lucas Mirindju. The illustration is by Denilson Baniwa and the visual identity by Daniel Minchome.

Juão Nyn is a multi-artist, active in performance, theater, cinema and music. Potyguar, 31 years old, activist of the Indigenous movement of RN by APIRN, member of the Estopô Balaio Collective of Creation, Memory and Narrative, of the Teatro Interrompido Art Company and vocalist/composer of the band Androide Sem Par.

He has a degree in Theater from UFRN and has been traveling between Natal and São Paulo for a few years.

By Ezatamentchy