I have lived here in the community of Cantagallo for twenty-one years. We work with
mothers here, this is a cultural house and everyone has their own space, their showcase
where to put their art. This art is what has brought us here, to the capital city Lima, to
share, to work, to render visible our identity, the living culture of the Shipibo-Conibo
people, the cosmovision of the world of medicinal plants, based on the piri piri
plants, on ipo kené, on ayahuasca, the mother of all plants. During the pandemic we have been
working on making masks that is why we paint, we embroider, we sing, in other words,
everything we do in art. And that’s how we met Miguel. He was always buying art, he helped me,
he saved my life too. So that is why I am here in front of you all, and continuing to work
with most of the 29 mothers with whom we are working. We are very content, very happy, and
very grateful to you all for giving us this opportunity. We mothers are very happy! Some
Some still haven’t gotten here, some are traveling to get their bark, their mud to be able to keep
painting, to be able to keep doing their work. Well, we are women who have been empowered in
the world through art. And we can say this because before we were minimized women, women
who did not have capacities according to men, according to people who think badly of women.
But now we have gender equality, equal rights. Before women could not work anywhere other than
the kitchen, washing dishes, cooking, doing art, even though sometimes there was nowhere to
sell it. But thanks to art we have been able to get ahead. So, we used to feel “on the
bottom,” but now we feel “on top” and strong. Yes, women can, yes a woman can save her
household, yes, a woman can maintain her children without her husband, because these
hands and this head and this body are what make creativity, what make the kené. Kené is our
design that represents several designs. And each mother is inspired by her own knowledge,
her own beliefs, how her mothers have raised her. And we are also encouraging our children,
both men and women. Traditionally, men could do not make things in kené because their
grandmother or grandfather would say that it would “bend” the man, that he would become a
woman, then with that (whistles) they would cut down the men, make fun of them, but not any
more. I had to raise my son: “no mister, you have to wash dishes, you have to cook just like
your sisters. And you also have to do kené based on your own inspiration.” Of course, he
used to make “little games” but now he does it and now he already understands. We are going
to work, we’re going to sing, we’re going to dance, that is, we do everything during work
time so that we are not bored, because that is what nourishes our work, so that it turns out
well, so that it doesn’t get crushed. We have to converse with the fabric, the energy, the
spirit that has to be there, an invisible spirit that you won’t see, but that is there.
We also always use our natural inks because that is our source, that is the memory of our
ancestors who made it with mahogany, with mahogany bark, with _____, with mango, with
guava, with avocado seeds, which in other places they call “aguacate.” All of this comes
together and makes a very special paint, a natural mud. Like this dress, this dress is
painted with natural dye from mahogany bark. This brown turns into black when you make the
virgin mud, the thick mud that comes from the jungle lagoon, that we find in the lagoon two
hours from our home, in an hour we find it. But we also have to go to towns, my town has the
bark, the best bark, and another community Hejito has the special mud. I have to travel to
Hejito to bring it back from there and go to my community Pauyan for the bark that we have to
look for. Then, mud is poured over the work and it turns black. But we have to use our paint
carefully here, there aren’t any erasers or white-out to hide things, we don’t have that.
This isn’t acrylic, this is the ecological paint that we make and that doesn’t harm our
hands, it doesn’t harm our sense of smell, it is not chemical, it is natural.
We are going to sing a short song that we always sing, sometimes to start the conversation or at the
end. We always sing to connect with the energy of our peoples and what we want to do and to
shower ourselves with success and all our strength. So that is always our custom. I hope
to connect more mothers in order to not have that problem, some day, but not now, but as
they say, faith moves mountains.
Thank you.