PERU & BOLIVIA 2024
Cusco/La Paz
September 2nd, 2025
During the last week of our trip, we went to Cusco, a city we had both spent significant time in in the past and adjusting to the altitude was made easier by our familiarity with the city. The transition from Iquitos to Cusco was not just a change in altitude but also marked a more introspective turn in our journey, influenced both by personal circumstances and the accumulated exhaustion after several days of almost nonstop travel—from the coast, to the jungle, and then to the highlands. It’s curious how deeply ingrained that division is in the local imagination, when in reality, the boundary is much more porous than it seems. Between these geographical regions lies a vast territory and a rich culture that unites and connects them. After all, the mountain range passes through us all, both physically and spiritually.
We started our trip with a visit to Ollantaytambo, in the Sacred Valley. Here we met with Johana Sarmiento, Director of Alqa Museum of Popular Andean Art, where she introduced us to her warm and close-knit team, gave us a tour of the grounds, and spent hours with us in a private space, sharing her collection and personal stories. The museum was born out of her and her husband’s dream of connecting with the Andes, her ancestral lands, and forming a community, as well as her personal connections to weaving. Johana’s guided visit took the form of an informal conversation, where we were encouraged to ask questions about any of the objects in the collection. Most of these pieces were artworks and handmade items that had been gifted to her by members of her chosen family and the community she has spent years building. As we gathered around a table filled with various treasures, we were invited not only to look, but to touch, to hold the objects in our hands, and to connect with their stories. Johana shared the cultural significance of each piece, tracing their journey into her life. In that moment, we experienced firsthand the pedagogy that Alqa uses to teach about cultural heritage, one that welcomes everyone to the table.
Johana also shared how every project and exhibition begins with an offering to the Apu, as guidance for divine timing, and how her curatorial vision is shaped entirely by Andean cosmovision. In a way, Alqa identifies as a “counter-museum,” as its modes of operation contest traditional museum practices, striving to work from an anticolonial logic that centers local community. At the end of our visit, we also revelled in a wonderful culinary experience at their gastronomical lab, where they create bespoke menus based on organic and fresh foods in season from the nearby farms.
A few days later, we traveled to Chahuaytire, a rural Quechua village in the Sacred Valley. There, we took an intermediate backstrap weaving workshop; one of the programs offered by the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco. We were already familiar with the center, having visited its Cusco location and participated in workshops there a few years earlier. Chahuaytire is one of the many communities the center works with. There we learned complex weaving patterns unique to their community, guided by our teachers Valentina and Juana, their agile fingers moving fast through threads, reminded us how precise and mathematical the art of Andean weaving is.The experience also gave Karina a chance to practice her counting in Quechua.
The weaving workshop was an open space, where the weavers worked seated on the grass, while children played nearby, some running around, others absorbed in toy cars and dolls. We were kindly offered lunch and a table to sit at, while the rest of the group ate in their places on the ground, an act of hospitality that also made us aware of how much of an outsider we must have seemed. The language barrier added another layer of distance, making it harder to break the ice. Still, something shifted when we accepted coca leaves to chew, an unspoken gesture that helped bridge the gap between us, even if just slightly. The coca also certainly helped us stay focused during the final hour of our lesson.
The following day, we met with Yanett Melo, Educator, and Diana Hendrickson, Development Officer at the Centre of Traditional Textiles of Cusco, to hear about their experiences working with Indigenous artists, and Museums internationally, including the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Some of their projects of note are a program with experienced weavers reviving pre-columbian textile practices, and a program with youth where they learn the traditional patterns of their specific communities step-by-step until they master their craft. Yanett spoke about some of the challenges the center faces in passing down weaving skills to younger generations, particularly as they must compete with Western fashion trends that are made appealing through social media.
The end of our trip took us to La Paz, Bolivia, for a short 3-day trip, with the purpose of visiting the Ethnography Museum, Directed by Elvira Espejo Ayca, an Aymara and Quechua weaver herself, who has dedicated over 20 years to exploring Andean Indigenous traditional crafts. Her work in community-building with hundreds of Indigenous weavers in Bolivia foregrounds the incredible curatorial work in the museum, which highlights historic and contemporary textile practices, among other thematic exhibitions including ceramics, water and birds. This visit was emotional for both of us. For Camila, the Museum stood out because of their curatorial choices and vision in their approachable and accessible descriptive didactics and exhibition design that included detailed drawings of techniques. These drawings were created for the general public to understand weaving practices that have been lost in family lineages through colonial violence or capitalism, but also very helpful for makers, including herself, who wish to keep these techniques alive. For Karina, the majesty of the garments—some of them replicas of clothing from the time of the Inca Empire—displayed in one of the exhibition rooms stirred something deep within her: a mix of pride and loss. This feeling was heightened by a panel referencing the The Royal Ordinance of April 21, 1782 that banned these garments, along with other cultural items and practices.
This leg of the trip, for Camila, was unfortunately foregrounded by the passing of her paternal grandmother. Coincidentally, we stayed in a hostel called La Abuela, which felt like a sign, as her grandmother had briefly worked for the Bolivian government and shared fond memories of her visit to La Paz. In a way, la abuela was with us all along.
After our trip, we concluded our research with virtual studio visits and talks with Sadith Silvano (hybrid), Elvia Paucar and Elvira Espejo Ayca. Sadith showed us her studio in Cantagallo, a Shipibo-Conibo community on the outskirts of Lima, sharing with us her journey as both a fashion designer and a singer. At the time of our visit, Sadith was also taking law classes, having become an advocate for the many challenges her community faces. She had recently appeared on the news speaking out for the rights of Indigenous creators and condemning cultural appropriation, sparked by a high-profile case involving a Peruvian designer and the director of Vogue Mexico. Sadith’s remarks went viral, yet she has always been a steadfast voice for her people. An admirable woman who has faced discrimination and financial hardship, Sadith is a remarkable figure in her community and a bursting creative force. Elvia Paucar spoke to us about her unique colourful textile techniques that are a lineage from her father, a weaver from San Pedro de Cajas who created his own pedal-loom weaving patterns. She shared how she is instilling this love for textiles to her daughters while passing down to them her weaving and design skills. Lastly, Elvira Espejo Ayca, spoke to us about her work at the Ethnography Museum of La Paz, her extensive 20-year career working in academics and within her own Indigenous community with nearly 1000 traditional weavers, in the preservation of textile techniques. Elvira is a powerhouse, and her work demonstrated how, with patience and conviction, museums can truly be transformed. Our conversation with her left us hopeful and with a clearer vision of our role within museums and as a bridge between the Global South and North.
This trip overall has allowed us to form meaningful connections with artists and institutions that we hope continue to grow into meaningful projects in the future!
Mending the Museum
Mending the Museum (2023)
Workshop Series:
Narrative Charm
Blackout Poetry
Play it Forward
Cloning and Paper Clay
Clay|Sound|Powah
INFO
About the Collective
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Brand identity, website design and development by Natasha Whyte-Gray, 2023.