Hello, my name is Cordelia Sánchez García, I am from the native community of San
Francisco, but I live here in Lima in the community of Cantagallo, which is in Rímac.
I want to tell you a little about myself, I am from the Shipibo-Conibo culture; our
custom is that, since we were little, our mother always has to teach us everything
from embroidery, painting and also the bracelets and necklaces that we make, in
order to meet our needs.
Our mothers and our grandparents did those things because they were not professionals,
they just sold everything that is art to educate us and buy everything they need at home.
That’s how we have learned to make art, and also through the plants, and
everything that is the cosmovision.
I want to explain about my art, I did an artwork, both about what Western medicine
is and what traditional medicine is, what plants are.
I did this thinking about those things because we Shipibos not only use everything
that is traditional medicine, but also Western medicine.
When I got sick with COVID, I had to use both medicines, both traditional and
western medicines, and that way I was cured of COVID because we have to use both
medicines, because if you use only one it doesn't work, we have to
use both so we can heal faster.
One of the artworks I did is about a mother embroidering masks, because in times of
COVID, mothers couldn't go out selling their necklaces, bracelets,
so, what did the mothers do?
They began to embroider masks in order to sell and buy their medicine
and food in order to survive.
And that’s how, I did my artwork of what we have been through in these very difficult
times that we are going through with the COVID disease.
And I thank God for continuing to give me life and thanks also to the friends who
helped us a lot; and nothing more to say, thank you.
(Shipibo dialect)