TEJIDO
Woven textiles from the Central Valleys of Bolivia
Situated to the East of Sucre at an altitude of 3 300 metres, is the rural town of Tarabuco. Every Sunday the town transforms into an outdoor market place hosting artisans, traders and food vendors arriving from across the region.
The Tarabuco culture is a blend of several Quechua speaking communities who at first appear to be a homogenous ethnicity. Different communities surrounding the town share similarities in culture and traditions but above all they share clothing characteristics. The distinctive styles and designs of each group reflect their surroundings and capture a collective worldview that is woven within every textile.
The local artisans are famous for an intricate woven textile technique called Pallay which pre-dates the Incas. The technique is found within the Tarabuco and Jalq’a textiles and it is one of the most complex practise in South America. Both textiles are communicative vessels depicting traditions, beliefs and the quotidian life of the weavers.
The Jalq’a designs recreate and illustrate a distinctive world of abstract figures and mythical creatures that are derived from patterns found in textiles of their ancestors. The iconography has a mixture of scales ranging from the miniature to the exaggerated using a two-colour design to reveal the woven patterns. These asymmetrical designs called the Khurus, chaotically fill the entire textile revealing animal like figures that inhabit the underworld. Jalq’a textiles are made by wool and alpaca and are exclusively woven on a blackstrap loom.
The Tarabuco designs present an ordered and symmetrical world recreated from everyday life. The textiles pay tribute to nature and express gratitude for the simple things in life. They are highly complex textiles, woven in wool and cotton, using the two-colour warp structure.
To create the Tarabuco or Jalq’a textiles, the process must begin by the shearing of the sheep or the alpaca. The fibers are then collected, cleaned and prepared for hand spinning. Once the threads have been gathered in hanks the dyeing process can begin using various natural pigments. Finally, the threads are prepared for the loom, alternating the warp structure using a two-colour design. This method is characteristic of the Pallay technique and allows the weaver to create figurative patterns with great precision. The weaving practise of the Tarabuco and Jalq’a textiles is a lengthy process that requires acute vision and concentration. Learning the technique begins at an early age and it is practiced throughout a lifetime.
For thousands of years, textiles have been one of the most complex and artistic expressions to develop in the region of the Andes. Woven textile pieces have reached a level of true communicative expression through which communities portray their identities. In some ways, Andean textiles can be read like a text revealing the thoughts of the weavers and unveiling their world.