Carrying Cloth

An eye-dazzling variety of animal-like creatures populate the woven design of this carrying cloth, which could be used to wrap and transport small objects, possibly even weaving implements. The angled and radiating figures, which resemble antlered deer, bats, condors, felines, horses, llamas, monkeys, owls, and rabbits, are also known as khurus, a Quechua word for wild, indomitable creatures. The optical play between positive and negative designs evokes a profound interior universe or subterranean realm, and reflects an established tradition of weaving in the Bolivian Andean community of Jalq’a.

This textile also demonstrates the impact of ASUR (Antropólogos del Surandino or Southern Andean Anthropologists Foundation), an organization dedicated to supporting Indigenous art in Andean communities. For their first endeavor in 1986, ASUR, helmed by Verónica Cereceda and Gabriel Martínez, opened a weaver’s cooperative in Irupampa, Bolivia. By 2019, the organization had 15 operational workshops across the Andes, where weavers earned a guaranteed percentage (about 70 percent) of the sale of their works.