Rock Art and Textiles: The Genesis of Bolivian Visual Culture
As a part of Transformative Performances of National Identity: Bolivian Art and Cultural Expressions, this panel will cover an abbreviated chronology of rock painting in Bolivia, starting with the Arcaic, Formative, Inca, colonial and Republican periods. The majority of rock painting in Bolivia corresponds to the Agro-pottery cultures (Intermediate and Early-Intermediate Periods), with a special emphasis on the Late Intermediate Period (1100-1438 A.C.E.) with unique representations in the Basin of the Mizque River in the Eastern Valleys of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. There is particular interest in colonial rock painting as there are three varieties: the Iconoclast, Narrative and Syncretic. The panel will also discuss the use of sites with rock painting that have a variety of offerings and rituals that have taken place in recent years, and the possible cultural contacts there are with traditions in rock painting in Brazil. The panel will then focus on the production of textiles that date back to around 550 A.C.E., from one of the most important polities in the Andean region, the Tiwanaku empire, located in close proximity to the city of La Paz, Bolivia. They are predecessors and later part of the largest and most advanced Pre-Hispanic empire in South America, the Inca civilization. Both the Tiwanaku and Inca empires are well known for the sophisticated patterns of their colorful textiles that have been well provenanced and documented. These textiles reflect the repercussions of rock painting and later colonial art that was influenced by the arrival of European artists. This impact is also echoed in current contemporary visual art, which has now also become a powerful expression of identity.
About the Speakers:
Véronica Cereceda, Director, Foundation for Anthropological Investigation and Ethno-development (ASUR), Sucre, Bolivia,
Roy Querejazu, Founder, Bolivia’s Rock Art Research Society SIARB (Sociedad de Investigación del Arte Rupestre de Bolivia)
Moderated by Jeremy George, art historian and independent scholar specialized on art and architecture of Pre-Hispanic Inca culture.
About Transformative Performances of National Identity: Bolivian Art and Cultural Expressions:
This is a seven panel virtual series that will provide a historical overview of Bolivia’s artistic and cultural production. A group of Bolivian artists and intellectuals will trace the history and art of this South American country.
Transformative Representations of National Identity: Bolivian Art and Cultural Expressions is open and free to the public. Please click on this link to access registration for all panels https://www.eventbrite.com/o/carolina-scarborough-33772654223. At the conclusion of the series, the panels will also be available to the public on social media platforms.
Funders:
The series of virtual panels, Transformative Performances of National Identity: Bolivian Art and Cultural Expressions, is made possible by generous funds from The Fundación Simón I. Patiño in Geneva, The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, The Bolivian American Chamber of Commerce in New York, Roberta & Richard Huber, and two anonymous donors.