<em>Lliklla</em> (Woman’s Mantle) with <em>K’isa</em> (Color Gradations)
The <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Aymara</span> people who inhabit the regions around Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and Perú have been noted for their masterful use of color since they were incorporated into the Inka Empire during the 1400s. Newer techniques, such as <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><em>k’isa</em></span>, developed in the early 20th century, continuing this colorful tradition. <br /><br />The term <em>k’isa</em> refers to the use of three shades of the same color next to one another in narrow stripes. These gradations can be arranged symmetrically around a central stripe, moving outward from darkest to lightest shade, or vice versa. For example, toward the right side, in from the wide green column, the narrow stripes include a thin pink outline then dark blue, medium blue, and light blue in quick succession. These blues form a <em>k’isa</em>.<br /><br />This rainbow technique quickly spread throughout many different Bolivian indigenous communities, in part due to its status as the first hand-woven technique to be replicated on a mechanical loom. In the 1970s, many Aymara people migrated into the urban areas of La Paz and started businesses to mass-produce cloth containing <em>k’isa</em> color gradations. <em>K'isa </em>became a symbol of modern indigenous identity and economic prosperity; in 1979 the Aymara ethnic flag was designed based on this technique.
<em>Ch’uspa</em> (Man’s Coca Bag) with Horses
The Tarabuco region of Bolivia is known for its depictions of animals and people, often arranged in scenes illustrating daily routines and festivals. The finely woven <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><i>ch’uspa</i></span><i> </i>or coca bag at left features a wide range of images: birds, spiders, monkeys, men and women, corn plants, llamas, and horses. Like other 20th-century Tarabuco textiles, it is woven with sheep’s wool and polyester yarn dyed in the brightest possible colors, demonstrating the shift in production that had occur-red by that time.<br /><br />The rearing horses in particular represent the development of “modern” indigenous artistic traditions. While we tend to associate “traditional” Native Americans with riding horses, the indigenous peoples of South America did not domesticate horses, which were already extinct in the Americas. The modern horse was only reintroduced into the Americas by the Spanish in the 16th century.<br /><br />Quickly adopted by all nomadic native peoples, the horse soon transformed culture and even dress. Riding made the open-sided man’s poncho a necessary innovation, a garment that allowed the necessary freedom of movement, eclipsing the ancient tunic. The New World camelids—llamas, alpacas, guanacos, and vicuñas—cannot be ridden; horses therefore served as a new and important mode of transportation. The horse has become an integral part of life in indigenous communities and is now viewed as a traditional, as part of the ever-evolving definitions of what is “traditional” versus what is “new” in a given culture and time.
<p><em>Lliklla</em> (Woman’s Mantle) with Indigo and Red</p>
<p>This 20th century <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><i>lliklla,</i></span> shoulder mantle in Quechua, embodies the long-held Andean concept of ayni or dual parts in an almost-equal relationship. First, blue paired with bright red is a typical Andean choice; the two highest-status colors are cool and warm, natural opposites but also complementary. Second, Bolivian garments still today are almost universally formed of two units of cloth sewn together. On a practical level, making smaller cloths means each can have a tighter weave and therefore finer patterning, since the threads have a shorter distance to travel before they sag. Third, here the central seam is covered with alternating colors of bright embroidery stitching, drawing attention to the two distinct parts of the garment. Thus, this mantle represents the idea that two together make a whole, parts balancing in a dynamic dialogue.</p>
<p>This piece also combines ancient, colonial, and modern elements. The process of indigo dyeing was in place well before 1000 BC in the Andes. However, this particular geometric pattern was invented in the 20th century. The pink areas are dyed with chemically derived aniline dyes developed in the 19th century. The use of sheep’s wool is a modern development, replacing alpaca as the fiber of choice after the Spanish brought sheep from Europe. The artist has employed <i>lloque</i> (alternating threads dyed the same color but spun and plied in opposite directions to create slight, shadowy diagonals) pioneered in the 16th century. A <i>lliklla</i> such as this epitomizes the idea of the palimpsest, or layering over time.</p>
Contemporary Wall Hanging/Table Runner
<p>Beginning in the mid-20th century, Western tourists and art dealers began to arrive in Perú and Bolivia and were struck by the quality of the historic heirloom textiles still in use. As these textiles began to appear on the art market, the artistry of the Andean weaving tradition drew international recognition. Western buyers preferred to buy older textiles because they were seen as more true to the indigenous culture. However, the contemporary traditions of the Jalq’a and Tarabuco communities in south central Bolivia rival older pieces with their imaginative figural imagery and intricate details. The Jalq’a weaving tradition has changed in response to outside demand, becoming more technically complicated as weavers include more of these figures to make pieces more attractive to buyers.</p>
<p>Weavers from both communities belong to the Indigenous Textile Art Renaissance Program, which began in 1986. Today this program includes more than eight hundred women weavers organized in seventeen communal workshops. This piece was woven by a member named Ramona from the Jalq’a town of Potolo. She produced the piece for sale; however, it contains the types of images woven in traditional garments. These bird and animal figures represent beings from Ukhu Pacha or the Inner World, which is considered to be a creative realm that supports our world.<br /><br />To see the weaver of this textile, Ramona Contreras, describe her weaving, please view the <a href="/modernbolivia">video</a> taken by Shelley Burian.</p>
<em>Chumpi</em> (Belt) with Horse and Llama Motifs<br /><em>Chumpi</em> (Belt) with Horse and Bird Motifs
<p>Belts of many different kinds were used throughout the Andes well <a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/77">before the Inka</a> and continue to be an accessory for indigenous men and women today. Being narrower than other garments, belts are one of the first items that Andean girls learn to weave. Belts are called <i><span style="text-decoration:underline;">chumpi</span></i> in Quechua and <i><span style="text-decoration:underline;">huaka</span></i> in Aymara.</p>
<p>These representative modern Andean examples were made in the 20<sup>th</sup> century. When the Spanish entered the Americas, they preferred tapestry woven pieces in which the wefts carry the pattern. The type of weaving that features the patterning in the warps then became more typical of local clothing. In these belts, adjacent warps of different colors are pulled to the front and pushed to the back as weaving progresses. This method is a perfect example of <i><span style="text-decoration:underline;">ayni</span></i> or the value placed on reciprocity; the patterns are the same on both sides, but the colors reverse.</p>
<p>These red belts come from a Quechua-speaking region of Bolivia known for its detailed imagery of animals and people as well as its bright aniline-dyed colors. The second example contains the European-introduced horse alongside native llamas and birds. The horses have stylized manes and circles representing their hooves, whereas the llamas have longer bodies, shorter legs, and horizontal squares representing their feet.</p>
<em>Chumpi</em> Kurti (Belt) with Birds
<p>Belts of many different kinds were used throughout the Andes well <a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/77">before the Inka</a> and continue to be an accessory for indigenous men and women today. Being narrower than other garments, belts are one of the first items that Andean girls learn to weave. Belts are called <i><span style="text-decoration:underline;">chumpi</span></i> in Quechua and <i><span style="text-decoration:underline;">huaka</span></i> in Aymara.</p>
<p>When the Spanish entered the Americas, they preferred tapestry woven pieces in which the wefts carry the pattern. The type of weaving that features the patterning in the warps then became more typical of local clothing. In this and <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/116">two 20<sup>th</sup> century Bolivian belts</a></span>, adjacent warps of different colors are pulled to the front and pushed to the back as weaving progresses. This method is a perfect example of <i><span style="text-decoration:underline;">ayni</span></i> or the value placed on reciprocity; the patterns are the same on both sides, but the colors reverse.</p>
<p>The belt with purple is more traditional in that such bird motifs originated in the pre-Hispanic period and the muted, carefully arranged stripes continue the age-old use of natural dyes. Yet, this 21st century belt was woven exclusively for sale rather than for local use, demonstrating that the market does not necessarily change all features of textiles.</p>
Boy’s Mourning Poncho
<p>Early 19th century Bolivian garments, such as the boy’s poncho at right, contain muted colors created entirely with natural dyes, just as they had been throughout the pre-Hispanic period. The thread itself is also identical to that in used ancient garments, spun from the silky hair of the alpaca. Although this poncho maintains the materials used in antiquity, the poncho is not actually a pre-Hispanic garment type, despite the fact that it may be associated with indigenous Americans today. The poncho evolved out of the tunic, a sleeveless shirt sewn up the sides and with a finished neck slit. Leaving the sides open allows more flexibility of movement necessary to ride the horses introduced by the Spanish.</p>
<p>After the Spanish actually banned the tunic in the mid-18<sup>th</sup> century, ponchos became more widely adopted and customized to fulfill a variety of ceremonial roles. This poncho, distinguished by its black stripes, is specifically designed as a “mourning” garment for a small boy. Such clothes were worn not only at funerals, but also on All Soul's Day and Good Friday. Since these special garments could take several months to complete, they were often passed down through several generations as heirlooms. They were considered as a physical link between the generations of the living and the dead.</p>
<em>Lliklla</em> (Woman’s Mantle)
<p>With the Spanish invasion in the 16th century and the establishment of their colonial empire, an array of fabrics from around the world began to be introduced into the Andes and elsewhere in the indigenous Americas. Chinese fabrics came to the Americas in exchange for the huge amounts of silver needed to manufacture Chinese coins. Spanish trading ships also sailed across the Pacific to Europe, carrying American products including the precious red dye, cochineal. They returned with cloth manufactured in Europe.</p>
<p>These foreign fabrics made an impression on Aymara weavers of Bolivia, who created new methods of plying thread so as to imitate their shimmering surfaces and subtle color changes. New plying techniques are present in this <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><i>lliklla</i></span> (plying twists two threads together to make straight and strong yarn). The plain or <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><i>pampa</i></span> sections contain <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><i>ch’imi</i></span>, a technique in which two colors of thread are plied together like a candy cane. In this piece, pink and brown create <i>ch’imi</i>. Another new plying technique, <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><i>lloque</i>,</span> is visible in the pink bands at the mantle’s edges. This technique alternates warp threads that have been plied in opposite directions, creating the visual effect of chevrons. A slight shimmer also results as light hits the surface. These techniques, common in the 19th century, have now become traditional elements of Aymara garments.</p>
<em>Incuña</em> (Sacred Shamanic Cloth)
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><i>Incuñas</i></span> or sacred cloths, like the example at left, may resemble a woman’s mantle, but are made and used differently. Indigenous people in Perú and Bolivia fill them with special items and lay them on the ground during important ceremonies, such as rituals to promote animal fertility. This is a very ancient practice. Graves from at least 300 AD include ritual bundles or cloths laid out with offerings of <span style="text-decoration:underline;">coca</span> leaves, miniature ceramics, and gourds on top.</p>
<p>Today the items on such a shamanic <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><i>mesa</i></span><i> </i>(Spanish for table, but meaning anything that presents sacred objects for ritual use) still feature coca leaves, which have always been a key feature of Andean ceremonies. Coca forms a link between the past and present, as the various coca bags seen in this gallery attest. Today coca is arrayed alongside cigarettes, herbs (such as chamomile), and molded sugar figurines. The various objects are symbolically shared with the spirits so as to encourage them to help the living.</p>
<p>Sacred cloths are special in way that is obvious to the highly textile-literate Andean peoples. One is the fact that it was woven as a single piece, whereas mantles and ponchos are always made from two parts.</p>
<em>Kapote</em> (Man’s Poncho)
<p>This 20th-century man’s <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><i>kapote</i></span>, or poncho, stands in stark contrast to the 19th-century boy’s version across the gallery. One hundred years has made a remarkable difference. They are both ponchos, however, and as such reflect the dramatic post-Hispanic changes to indigenous dress, especially that of men. The Spanish reintroduced horses into the Americas and indigenous men could not ride them in their tight-fitting long shirts or tunics. Hence the sides were split open and the poncho was born; what we think of as a “traditional” Latin American garment is, in fact, a hybrid form.</p>
<p>Color is one of the most changed elements of Bolivian and other modern native dress. With the innovation of chemically extracted dyes, called aniline, in the mid-19th century, the intensity of colors increased exponentially. European ladies had been craving a stronger purple color, which British chemist William Henry Perkin accidentally discovered in 1856, a chemically derived “mauveine.” His fame and fortune followed and aniline dyes of all colors began to infiltrate the market, a trend that continues to this day.</p>