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The South American Explorers Feature
The Art of the Shipibo
By Tanilee Eichelberger

Shipibo art is known for its distinctive use of angular geometric designs forming intricate patterns. As diverse as the patterns themselves are the theories about their meaning. Some believe it to represent a stylized language, a mapping of Amazonia rivers, a representation of the spiritual word, or shapes of the Anaconda. Some Shipibo artists state that the designs describe the lives of their families and communities in the forest. Although it is difficult to attribute a single meaning to the designs, their value and uniqueness is undisputable.

The Shipibo are an ethnic group of around 37,000 people scattered over approximately four hundred villages near Pucallpa along the Ucayali river, joining Río Amazonas, the longest and largest river in the world. The Shipibo, who belong to the Panoan family, are fully fluent both in their own indigenous language and in Spanish.

Shipibo textiles

In their language, Chono Shobo means 'The House of the Hummingbird', a center where women of the community gather to work on their handcrafts. Here the elders pass their ancestral techniques to younger generations. Novice design makers start learning this art as early as the early age of five. Throughout their lives, they will cultivate their art to become experts in dying, painting, embroidering or weaving.

The geometrical designs are called Quene, literally "symbols of ethnic identity." Their unique style differentiates Shipibo from other indigenous groups. Their melodies and chants serve as codes to the designs and relate to shamanic visions experienced under the influence of ayahuasca. The elaborate geometrical figures symbolize the ethnic group's cosmology. The Great Boa or Ronin Quene, known as the Great Mother, has a particular design representing the body of a prominent mythical being. This design also correlates to a particular chant. The Ronin Quene Huehua, literally "the song of the design of the Great Boa," refers to an important cosmic region. It is through these visions that women of the Shipibo begin the process of creating the distinct hand-painted textiles.

The Shipibo paint on large sheets of pure cotton muslin that are cut into smaller sections before the dying process. Gloriosa Rios and Zoyla Mori often work together painting on the same sheet at the same time, coordinating designs by observing the other's progress. One of the most difficult tasks is drawing the first line on a virgin cloth. The painter has to proceed with extreme delicacy, if only one drop of color stains the sheet, all preceding work will be in vain because the stain can never be washed off again. Women often paint all day and night to finish their work in time. Zoyla Mori's daughter Marly fills the spaces between the bold lines ("mayá kené") with "mashko kené", the delicate filling patterns, with a quick and, despite her youth, quite experienced hand. The color itself is a unique blend of organic materials from the jungle and is very difficult to handle because of its pasty consistency.

For the black on rust designs, they dye the entire fabric with the plant-based brown tint, and then paint on it with mud, thus turning only those painted portions to black. Hand-painted textiles are dyed up to ten times with bark of Mahogany and Joshim Pocote to then be left to dry in the noon sunlight. Then they are hand-painted with a special mud known as "mai mano" that is collected from the bottom of ponds and streams. The mud is applied with very fine sticks, then dried in the sun and finally washed.

For black on white cotton designs, they paint onto natural un-dyed muslin with the brown plant-based dye, and then bathe the entire fabric in mud, thus turning the painted portions to black. Designs are painted with a dye extracted from bark of the Josh Viechi, Viiiso Viechi, Vinpish Viechi, and Yoshin Pocote trees, or Huito fruit. After being boiled, the concentrated color is used to "tattoo" the material by applying the design with fine sticks.

Lovers of Shipibo art appreciate the beautiful designs, the gentle curves and the authentic look. Today they are striving to maintain economic stability through the production and replication of centuries of tradition. This form of creativity has been passed on from generation to generation and only recently has reached the global market. By purchasing these hand-painted textiles consumers are helping the Shipibo preserve their culture and maintain economic stability and self-sufficiency.

Tanilee Eichelberger is the Manager of the South American Explorers Club in Lima.

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