PECON QUENA IN CUSCO

Shipibo-Konibo artist Pecon Quena speaks about her first visit to Cusco, the process behind her painted works of "the Dueños", and her creative workshop which was held at Xapiri Ground on the 16th of October 2021.
Melanie Dizon
November 25, 2021

A week in October 2021, we had the pleasure of hosting a dear friend and Shipibo-Konibo artist Pecon Quena (Lastenia Canayo) at our headquarters in San Blas, Cusco. It was her first time to travel to Cusco; coming from the jungles of Pucallpa, making her first few days here a slow transition into a landscape quite different from her home.

Photo: Davis Torres

Xapiri Ground has been in close relations with Pecon Quena for over five years, through the selling of her art and supporting her family. Recently, we completed a 3-month long exhibition featuring her "Dueño" paintings followed by a workshop where the participants were able to paint their own individual dueño and contribute to an even larger canvas mural containing multiple dueños.

Photo: Davis Torres

Photo: Davis Torres

These type of events allow us to create a cross-cultural exchange through the arts with our community and the communities that we support throughout the Peruvian Amazon.

Photo: Davis Torres

Photo: Davis Torres

Photo: Davis Torres

Pecon Quena also gifted us with some little guardians for our common area in the café.

Xapiri Ground is a contemporary art house that powers the autonomy and perpetuation of Peruvian Indigenous communities’ life-ways and cultural traditions through equitable cross-cultural exchange, inquiry, collaboration, skill share, and special projects.