I remember when on those road trips, one would pass through the little towns and quickly see through the window the souvenirs or the striking crafts and think, what meaning do those peculiar shapes that the artisans make have? Did they get those symbols from somewhere? These questions and more are related to a world as rich and diverse as pre-Columbian art; But what is it and why was it so important in the communities? This art frames all those art objects made by different indigenous peoples, before the arrival of Columbus and the Hispanic influence. The creations of many pre-Columbian cultures are characterized by their great craftsmanship and especially in the Andean area, textiles were one of the most outstanding areas adopted by different cultures, developing one of the richest traditions in the world. As indicated by the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, the climatic conditions of the Andean plateau have been one of the key causes of the conservation of many of these fragile pieces, with dates that date back to 8000 years in some regions and although this world It is something of the past, it also remains in the present day of the genetic and cultural heritage of the current indigenous peoples.
Through the study of pre-Columbian forms, an approach to several key aspects of pre-Hispanic communities is viable, such as mythology, their cosmogony and daily life. In some way, far from the rational order, the representations of myths and legends expressed through the association of images, indicate the creative talent present, not only in textile work but in architecture, goldsmithing, pottery or stone carving.
But why was this and continues to be a topic of interest in the artistic field, especially in textiles? This is because many of the pre-Hispanic communities, as well as the indigenous people of today, have generated a close relationship of admiration and respect with the natural environment, seeking a way to understand, analyze and transfer, figuratively or abstractly, the essence and particularity of elements as essential to them as flora, fauna and even natural phenomena. As Ballestas (2001) explains, when trying to find the meaning of existence and explanation for questions about life, the cosmos and its environment, this led to the practice of magical-religious cultural activities that required ceremonial objects and special clothing, as in its case. time, the adaptation of environments for the celebration of war rituals and dances.
These cultural aspects continued to be replicated in many of the indigenous communities that, with the use of colors, forms of embroidery and fabrics, began to build a visual language that today shows the lifestyle of different peoples, for example in the everyday clothing that also contains symbols that demonstrate an identity within their community; among many other aspects and from very early times, they also served as means to transmit ideas about customs, social hierarchies and religious beliefs, becoming a powerful cultural instrument to represent the ideology of a people.
The curious thing about this is that when passed down through generations, these symbols have been an implicit constant that has remained firm from the past to the present; We see that it happens a lot, for example, in the artisans of the municipality of Guacamayas, Boyacá or specifically the case of the designs embodied in the backpacks of the Wayuu community, where they create very particular drawings and geometric representations through weaving. called kanas. Very well, as Christian Fuentes (2012) indicates, “they do not make graphic representations of their designs; They also do not have an album where they have compiled their designs, nor do they use preliminary sketches in the elaboration of a craft, they handle abstract and non-physical representations of the designs to be built. In general, they carry out their work based on the knowledge and interpretations of their culture, assigning the work of the artisan as an artist who not only maintains his traditions from the past but does not need guides because he simply has them already instilled by nature and who also present certain characteristics with significant value, which pass through each generation as a symbolic ideology.
Due to modernization issues, there is also a risk of loss or little appreciation of what the pre-Columbian symbologies represent, for example, there is a reproach towards young migrant indigenous people, because they no longer want to carry out traditional practices related to weaving or because they simply want to change the clothing that characterizes them. On the other hand, plagiarism or misuse also occurs when implementing this pre-Columbian art in brand designs, causing the important meaning of these symbols to be truly lost. This is why it is important that this difficult but necessary process of reconstruction of pre-Columbian symbology be continued from a comprehensive and referential perspective, since through this a story is being built that also speaks about us as a society, allowing us to understand who are. As Mirtha Presas (2019) explains, the use of textiles is ritual even in these times, a small textile can be a “ceremonial table” on which elements are placed that operate as mediators between the earth and the worlds above. . This implicit poetry then proposes us to appreciate the symbolic and artisanal work even more and at the same time, invites us to continue inspiring ourselves so that these designs are not simple copies, but sensible and valued productions.
Sources
Alex García Palmar (2017). Un acercamiento al valor y significado de los tejidos de la cultura Wayuú. [Entrevista personal para Tesis de Grado]. Universidad de Palermo
https://fido.palermo.edu/servicios_dyc/proyectograduacion/archivos/4443.pdf
Museo chileno de Arte Precolombino. Tecnologías precolombinas. Disponible en:
http://precolombino.cl/recursos-educativos/tecnologias-precolombinas/textiles/
Oswaldo Romero, 2015. La iconografía precolombina y su aplicación artística en el folclore. (1ª ed.). Ecuador: Ediciones Utmach
Christian Fuentes (2012). Etnomatemática, geometría y cultura: el caso de los artesanos del municipio de Guacamayas, Boyacá. Disponible en: http://funes.uniandes.edu.co/2463/1/Etnomatem%C3%A1ticaFuentesAsocolme2012.pdf