KENE
Embroideries from the Amazon Jungle of Peru
Surrounded by the tropical lowlands of the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, is the remote town of Yarinacocha. The town is located on the banks of the Ucayali River overlooking the vast rainforest and it is one of the 130 indigenous settlements of the Shipibo-Konibo-Xetebo ethnicity.
There are approximately 35 000 Shipibo-Konibo-Xetebo living along the river and its tributaries. The community is characterised by the intricate linear geometry shapes expressed in carvings, weavings, embroideries, beadwork and body painting.
Kenes are multi-layered embroidered textiles composed of fractal motifs that are exclusively produced by women. These complex motifs are revealed to the individual as visions during healing ceremonies. The Shipibo believe that within each person lies a vibrational pattern that maps out an energetic pathway. Healing ceremonies are performed in order to realign these pathways that are ultimately represented within the Kenes.
The Shipibo culture and tradition, holds an ancient medicinal practice using various plants such as Ayahuasca, Chakruna and Mapacho. An integral part of this ceremonial practice, is the signing of particular songs called Icaros.
Icaros are a tool of the Onanyabo – the ancestral healer – which capture wisdom, energy and power. They are a type of Matra focusing on energetic centres through sound vibration and concentration. The songs are relatively simple, referring to plants animals and natural phenomena. Every Onanyabo carries unique Icaros, inherited during the apprentice period and embodying knowledge and curative power. The songs are interconnected with the patterns creating an immediate transformation from the visual to the acoustic and vice versa.
A reoccurring design symbol is the cosmic serpent, the anaconda called Ronin. This sacred creature is considered the source of all patterns, as they are laid out upon its skin. For the Shipibo the serpents are entities that cleanse and purify their state of being and are commonly seen flowing within their visions.
During our time in Yarinacocha we visited communities along the overflowing river. One of our stops was the community of Puerto Firmeza where we met the artisan Otilia Lopez Saguanari. Otilia has been producing Kenes from the age of thirteen, learning the craft from her mother. She explained how Kene making has evolved through time becoming an alternative source of income for the Shipibo families.
The threads and the base cloth are sourced from markets within the nearby towns. The design begins with a hand painted drawing using a natural dye from a tree bark. The process can take several days to be completed and its sometimes shared between the artisans. Once the symbols are outlined the artisan begins to embroider selected areas of the design, using various techniques and creating contrasting colour combinations. Every Kene has unique features that symbolise and represent the inner world of the artisan.
SPACE FILLING CURVE THEORY
Space-filling curves are special cases of fractal curves or fractals which are simply never ending patterns. Fractals are complex, self- similar (not the same), repeated patterns at different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process again and again that leads to a never-ending complexity of patterns. Generated by their property of recursion, fractals are images of dynamic systems that deal with nonlinear, surprising phenomena that are impossible to predict or control like the weather.
Alternatively, they can be described as pictures that tell the story of the processes that created them. Geometrically they exist in between our familiar dimensions. Fractal patterns are familiar to everyone since nature is full of them. For example, some natural fractals are trees, river networks, coastlines, mountains and clouds. Recently scientists begun recognising the chaotic, fractal nature of our world and that it can give us new insight, power and inspiration to solve challenging problems.
A plane or a space-filling curve is a 1- dimensional line that completely fills a space such as a 2 dimensional square. Mathematicians and scientists did not believe such a curve existed mathematically until the late 19th century when scholars like Georg Cantor, Giuseppe Peano and David Hilbert, discovered a continuous curve that passes through every point of the unit square.
The Shipibo have been seeing and using fractal geometry for generations. Space filling curves and fractals can be seen in every Shipibo design demonstrating their multi-layered world that perhaps is more complex than it seems. The symbiotic relationship between the Shipibo and their natural habitat forms part of their culture and their worldview. The rituals and ceremonies practiced within their culture enriches their interconnection with nature. The Shipibo healing process opens up an alter state of consciousness, sharpening sensory perceptions within multiple dimensions of reality while creating a synaesthetic experience. It is a journey within the subconscious and the esoteric world that demonstrates the power of natural forces that can neither be anticipated nor dominated.