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I have lived here in the community of
Cantagallo for twenty-one years. We work with

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mothers here, this is a cultural house and
everyone has their own space, their showcase

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where to put their art. This art is what has
brought us here, to the capital city Lima, to

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share, to work, to render visible our identity,
the living culture of the Shipibo-Conibo

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people, the cosmovision of the world
of medicinal plants, based on the piri piri

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plants, on ipo kené, on ayahuasca, the mother
of all plants. During the pandemic we have been

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working on making masks that is why we
paint, we embroider, we sing, in other words,

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everything we do in art. And that’s how we met
Miguel. He was always buying art, he helped me,

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he saved my life too. So that is why I am here
in front of you all, and continuing to work

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with most of the 29 mothers with whom we are
working. We are very content, very happy, and

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very grateful to you all for giving us this
opportunity. We mothers are very happy! Some

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Some still haven’t gotten here, some are traveling
to get their bark, their mud to be able to keep

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painting, to be able to keep doing their work.
Well, we are women who have been empowered in

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the world through art. And we can say this
because before we were minimized women, women

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who did not have capacities according to men,
according to people who think badly of women.

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But now we have gender equality, equal rights.
Before women could not work anywhere other than

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the kitchen, washing dishes, cooking, doing
art, even though sometimes there was nowhere to

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sell it. But thanks to art we have been
able to get ahead. So, we used to feel “on the

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bottom,” but now we feel “on top” and strong.
Yes, women can, yes a woman can save her

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household, yes, a woman can maintain her
children without her husband, because these

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hands and this head and this body are what make
creativity, what make the kené. Kené is our

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design that represents several designs. And
each mother is inspired by her own knowledge,

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her own beliefs, how her mothers have raised
her. And we are also encouraging our children,

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both men and women. Traditionally, men
could do not make things in kené because their

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grandmother or grandfather would say that it
would “bend” the man, that he would become a

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woman, then with that (whistles) they would
cut down the men, make fun of them, but not any

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more. I had to raise my son: “no mister, you
have to wash dishes, you have to cook just like

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your sisters. And you also have to do kené
based on your own inspiration.” Of course, he

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used to make “little games” but now he does it
and now he already understands. We are going

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to work, we’re going to sing, we’re going to
dance, that is, we do everything during work

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time so that we are not bored, because that is
what nourishes our work, so that it turns out

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well, so that it doesn’t get crushed. We have
to converse with the fabric, the energy, the

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spirit that has to be there, an invisible
spirit that you won’t see, but that is there.

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We also always use our natural inks because
that is our source, that is the memory of our

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ancestors who made it with mahogany, with
mahogany bark, with _____, with mango, with

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guava, with avocado seeds, which in other
places they call “aguacate.” All of this comes

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together and makes a very special paint,
a natural mud. Like this dress, this dress is

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painted with natural dye from mahogany bark.
This brown turns into black when you make the

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virgin mud, the thick mud that comes from the
jungle lagoon, that we find in the lagoon two

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hours from our home, in an hour we find it. But
we also have to go to towns, my town has the

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bark, the best bark, and another community
Hejito has the special mud. I have to travel to

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Hejito to bring it back from there and go to my
community Pauyan for the bark that we have to

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look for. Then, mud is poured over the work and
it turns black. But we have to use our paint

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carefully here, there aren’t any erasers or
white-out to hide things, we don’t have that.

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This isn’t acrylic, this is the ecological
paint that we make and that doesn’t harm our

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hands, it doesn’t harm our sense of smell, it
is not chemical, it is natural.

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We are going to sing a short song that we always sing,
sometimes to start the conversation or at the

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end. We always sing to connect with the energy
of our peoples and what we want to do and to

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shower ourselves with success and all our
strength. So that is always our custom. I hope

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to connect more mothers in order to not have
that problem, some day, but not now, but as

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they say, faith moves mountains.

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Thank you.