Melanie Dizon
July 1, 2022
Exhibition Inauguration: July 1 @ 5:30pm
ROEBIRI NOAH IPAOTI | the art of the Iskonawa women
Xapiri Ground is pleased to present the debut of ‘ROEBIRI NOAH IPAOTI;' a group exhibition for the women of the Iskonawa Artisans Association that addresses design and its connections to their ancestral territory.
Pathways from the Roebiri | Design and Territory of the Iskonawa people
by Carolina Rodríguez Alzza, Anthropologist
In 2017, the Iskonawa women began what would soon become a partnership for the joint work of recording, recovering and producing their traditional art. Among this vast knowledge, they aimed to rediscover their designs by returning to their history and origin. Their vision reencounters the journey that starts from the ‘Roebiri’, the name in the Iskonawa language for the imposing ‘El Cono’ hill located in their ancestral territory (Ucayali, Peru). In this territory the designs once adorned the bodies of their ancestors in ceremonies of cultural relevance or artifacts that transcended their use in everyday life.
Upon their canvas, the designs appear like the routes they’ve followed through the forest and the river to collect plants, barks, and clays later to be transformed into colors.
Together, painting with several hands, they recreate the contours of their ancestral territory amidst the different communities where the Iskonawa people now live. In this way, the Iskonawa legacy of their zigzag design continues through the women, following their paths through the cities of Pucallpa, Lima, and this time now in Cusco.
EXHIBITION INAUGURATION: Friday, 1st of July @ 5:30pm
Joining us will be invited artists of the Iskonawa community for an open conversation and film screening of "Iskobakebo, un difícil reencuentro" directed by Fernando Valdivia (2014).
ROEBIRI NOAH IPAOTI is on exhibition through October 4.
*The textiles from this exhibition are available for sale. To view the full series, please email us at info@xapiriground.org for more information.
