Handmade Shipibo tapestry · Pucallpa, Peru
Vision of the Jaguar.
A handwoven cotton tapestry of an Ayahuasca vision: serpents forming the jaguar, the plants of the brew, and the Icaros sung in ceremony. There is one of it.
Buying this item supports the community it was made in — the Shipibo communities along the Ucayali in eastern Peru.
- Made by
- Shipibo artists in Pucallpa, Peru
- Material
- Handwoven cotton
- Technique
- Woven and hand-embroidered by hand, start to finish
- Edition
- One of one — there is no second
- Shipping
- USPS, calculated at checkout. U.S. for now
One of one, so once it sells the page comes down. Real USPS shipping is calculated at checkout. We ship within the United States for now — outside the U.S., email info@thecommunitygarden.org and we will arrange it. Measurements and weight on request: ask us before you buy and we will go and measure the actual piece.
What you are looking at
The design is a vision, not a decoration. The serpents turn into the jaguar. Around them are the plants of the brew and the Icaros — the songs sung over a ceremony. Shipibo artists render these as pattern rather than as a picture, so the cloth reads as a record of something seen rather than an illustration of it.
Because every piece is drawn from one person’s vision, no two are the same, and this one will not be made again.
The people who made it
Shipibo-Konibo is spoken by some 35,000 people living in around 150 communities along the Ucayali river in eastern Peru. The design language the tapestry is made in is called kené, and it sits inside a much wider body of knowledge — ráo plant knowledge, mythology, and the history of life on the river.
We work with Shipibo communities along the Ucayali, including Comunidad Nativa Callería, on a 43-lesson Shipibo-Konibo course and a growing archive of kené design and plant knowledge. The tapestry and the archive come from the same relationship. You can read about the Shipibo language course here.
Buying it
The piece was bought outright from its makers at a price they set, not taken on consignment. 100% of the profit goes back into the Shipibo language and archive work. We are a U.S. 501(c)(3), EIN 92-0810800.
If you want to know the exact dimensions, the weight, or how to hang and care for it, email us before you buy and we will go and measure the actual piece rather than guess at it.
Where the money goes
100% of the profit goes back into cultural preservation with the makers.
This piece was bought from its makers at a price they set. The profit funds the Shipibo language and archive work along the Ucayali.