Bachelor’s Thesis 2007

Bachelor’s Thesis 2007

Title: Shipibo-Conibo Survivors: Artistic Development and Influences of a Living Culture. From Drawing to Painting

You can review the complete document at the library of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Lima.

Thesis Abstract
This essay on the Shipibo-Conibo ethnic group offers an approach to Amazonian communities, emphasizing their cultural expressions through painting on various mediums: fabric, ceramics, and the body. It also provides insight into the influence of this culture on contemporary visual artists, both national and international.

My motivation stems from a personal desire to seek and value my own cultural roots, having been born in the Amazon, as well as from the wish to reconnect with this land and, through this intention, engage with the most representative community of the region. The lack of information I encountered during my academic studies reflects, in my opinion, the general indifference of the country and its governments toward the Amazon and its ethnic groups—living cultures that survive despite such neglect.

The Shipibo community and its current artistic expressions result from the fusion of three distinct cultures: Shipibo, Conibo, and Shetebo. However, this community is commonly referred to as Shipibo-Conibo or Shipibo-Konibo.

This community has always been in contact with external communities. The first Western encounters with native peoples occurred almost simultaneously with the arrival of the first priestly orders in the 16th century. Early missionary records on Shipibo culture highlight their art, describing designs that cover entire surfaces, ornaments, ceramics, tools, as well as their homes and bodies in the form of un permanent tattoos. As a Shipibo song says: “The world was full of design.” “The reproduction of these designs on all objects of material culture granted power and protection to the home, the people, and the entire group. From this perspective, the loss of traditional motifs would signify not only the impoverishment of the environment but also of the spirit.” [1]

Today, Shipibo designs are limited to certain cultural expressions and products such as ceramics, embroidered textiles (now made with industrial threads), and drawings with natural dyes. Body painting is becoming increasingly rare. However, new needs have generated new areas of development for their artistic expressions and products, responding to the demands of global tourism through the innovation of utilitarian objects and ornaments. Additionally, they have developed art with tendencies toward figurative painting, which, through new languages, distances itself from traditional local graphics.

Since before the 20th century, scholars predicted the imminent disappearance of the Shipibo, as has been the case with many other communities. However, time has proven these predictions wrong, and today it is one of the fastest-growing Indigenous communities. Their worldview, adaptability, way of symbolically perceiving the world through their artistic expressions, and their traditional pride in their heritage have been, in my opinion, key factors in keeping this community united. These artistic expressions, like others in the region, are part of our graphic identity as a multicultural nation.

As an artist, I believe it is essential to include topics related to Peruvian Amazonian art in the educational curriculum for visual artists. Helping this community preserve its history, designs, traditions, and culture is fundamental for us as Peruvians and as artists because their story also reflects our own history.


[1] Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano, 2002, A Look Toward Infinity: Shipibo-Conibo Art, Lima, Instituto Peruano Norteamericano – ICPNA, 130 p., p. 46


Shipibo-Conibo Survivors

Artistic Development and Influences of a Living Culture

From Drawing to Painting

Introduction

General Overview of the Shipibo-Conibo Community
1.1. Location and Population

1.2. Through Time

  • 1.2.1. Archaeologists
  • 1.2.2. Conquerors
  • 1.2.3. Missionaries
  • 1.2.4. Rebellions
  • 1.2.5. Foreign Expeditions
  • 1.2.6. The Rubber Boom
  • 1.2.7. Contemporary Period

1.3. Gender Roles

1.4. Shipibo Pride

Symbolic Language
2.1. Concept of Symbol
2.2. The Shipibo World

  • 2.2.1. Myths
  • 2.2.2. Traditions, Hallucinogens, and Shamanism

2.3. Shipibo-Conibo Design

  • 2.3.1. Perception
  • 2.3.2. Design: Meanings, Evolution, and Structure
  • 2.3.3. Evolution in the Use of Color

New Interpretations: Lines That Speak of a Future
3.1. Commercial Art (Crafts)

From Drawing to Painting
4.1. School Art
4.2. Regional Artists and Their Influences
4.3. Influences of Shipibo Art on Artists Beyond the Region

Final Reflections as a Conclusion

ANNEXES:
I. Location and Demographic Data [1]

Glossary

  • Synesthesia

Interviews

Bibliography

Internet Sources

[1] DR, Brack Egg, Antonio Carlos, Yañez 1997, Peruvian Amazon: Indigenous Communities, Knowledge, and Titled Lands, Lima, GEF/UNDP/UNOPS Project RLA/92/g 31, 32, 33, 349p.

Woman from the Shipibo Community of Ceilan spinning wild cotton. Photo: Diana Riesco Lind
Agustina Valera showing guisador (also called palillo or turmeric) to dye yellow. Photo: Diana Riesco Lind
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