Waiting to organisea a visit the lakeside commuity Okola I spent another few days in La Paz exploring the museums and art galleries on a hunt for as much information and imagery about Bolivian weavings as possible.
Jalq'a weaving, with 'khurus' mythical beings woven to keep evil spirits at bay
One of the top visits was the Museum of Andean Bolivian textiles, where not being allowed to take photos meant I paid much more attention to the information in the moment, taking loads of notes and beginning to understand a little about the characteristics that define the different weavings from different communities. So far the only group whose weavings I can definitely recognise are those of the Jalq'a. Acording to the exhibition notes, the Jalq'a'a weavings have embodied their identity where they have political and social organisation. Easier than the other weavings to recognise because of their distinct colouring, they use usually red and black or pink and black and their iconography includes condors, eagles and usually also 'khurus', or 'worms', mythical creatures that are woven into the fabric to keep evil spirits at bay:
“In Potolo, mearby Sucre;
we add khurus ro our llikllas, aqsus, and capotes. We also include condors, little birds, ducks
and sometimes we even include people.
A payala (grandmother)
says that khurus are evil.
My grandmother, my mum’s
mother, already passed away. She used
to say that we had to weave them to scare away bad spirits. That’s why I always include these worms; so
that they may scare away those who mean to hurt us... For the celebration we
wear aqsus with khurus on them, always in black and red. Sometimes we use pink, like the old pruscila;
grandmothers know that tone...”
Damiana Pari, Jalq’a culture, Potolo community, Department of
Chuquisaca, from
Bolívar weaving
Charanzí weaving
North Potosí weaving
Manuel Tinta "Salar Con Ovillos"
Luis Alberto Quispe "Jatiri II Bruja" (detail)
Moreno mask and China Supay mask, both used at carnival in the region of LaPaz
The drawers filled with weavings in the Ethnographic Museum gave me a chance to study some more of the colours and icons of weavings from all over Bolivia, and to look at more carnival masks. It was also interesting to see how contemporary Bolivian artists are referencing traditional weaving techniques in their work at the Museum of Contemporary Art. And the best example of traditional-meets-contemporary: this supermarket poster.... the Bolivian version of London's Hip-Hop Housewife Lyns!!
:-)
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