Saphi Ch´usi is an installation that generates a space of reflection and re-connection with the Andean ancestral past. It explores how woven mats acted as multifunctional spaces and sacred practices, highlighting the action of spreading out a textile on the ground as a temporary altar. The installation is composed of three woven pieces, which can work as a group or as individual textiles, showing a contemporary way to be a medium to sacred offerings and rituals.

 

From the Quechua language: Saphi (root) and Ch´usi (woollen carpet).




MATERIALS:

 

The yarns used in this project were selected and bought directly from local suppliers and artisans from Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. In the case of alpaca yarns, they come from camelids of the Andean highlands and were hand-spun by an indigenous community in Bolivia. The natural textures and properties of these yarns enhance the aim of the project to connect with the Andes territory.

 

During her research, she found that the use of human hair in textiles and funerary practices was an activity with a tight relation to the cycle of life and sacred practices. In her practice, to weave with her “own” corporal fibres can be a truly emotive experience, giving the opportunity to reflect on the perspective of materials that pre-Columbian societies had in the past




TRANSFERENCE OF ANDEAN TECHNIQUES

 

The design of the sacred mat Nº1 is inspired by the Ch´usi, a thick woollen carpet or blanket with a basic woven shape, that can be either square or rectangle. From the Inka period, these multifunctional mats are still used by shepherd communities, adapting them to every environment and weather condition. The design of these mats evokes the natural colours of hair of the llamas and sheep of the Andes, and usually incorporates a speckled effect in stripes or squares, made by hand-spun bicoloured yarns.