'Yonga' is the word that the Yine women use to describe their hand-painted designs composed of colored lines on a contrasting background. 'Yongata' refers to the action of painting these lines and furthermore 'Sagata' describes the action of covering surfaces, such as vessels, clothing and the body. In the Yine community of Monte Salvado, their iconography forms the cultural blueprint over a vast array of textiles, ceramics, adornments, and the everyday objects they make.

Monte Salvado was founded in 1990 by a group of Yine from Urubamba (Torres,2023). It is located in the Tambopata province, in the Las Piedras river basin and borders the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve for Isolated Indigenous People. The community covers a territory of 36,310.289 hectares and is made up of approximately 70 families that are dedicated to various activities, such as agriculture, brazil nut harvesting, hunting, fishing and handicrafts.

In this brief documentary, the women of the Mashko Yine artisan association share stories about their traditional woven textile tradition; a tradition that is learned by process of imitation in the company of the grandmothers. This textile art is passed down to the young girls and women of the families to whom the knowledge continues to be safe-guarded. To this day, the women of this association continue to practice the art of the back-strap loom to create their beautifully patterned textiles signature to their Yine identity.

The Xapiri Ground team have been working with the Indigenous Women's Association "Mashko Yine" of the Monte Salvado community since 2017. The community's vision is to "protect the life of the flora and fauna of their territory". Our relationship with them began with their president Emily Urquía Sebastían who has and continues to be an integral part of our collaborations with the community.

Over the years we have endeavored towards the goal of establishing fair trade through the sharing of their traditional arts at our shop and gallery through exhibitions, talks and workshops. In 2021, we exhibited the hand-painted textile art of Emily for her solo exhibition "Yine Kamrure" as well as creating an intervention in our newly occupied San Blas space with her iconographical designs. Emily also held a workshop at our Sala 3 where she disseminated her knowledge of the traditional Yine designs and painting methods using natural tree pigments and clay.

In August of 2023, the Xapiri Ground team paid their first visit to the Monte Salvado community to connect deeper with the Association. Two and a half days were spent traveling up the Las Piedras river from Puerto Maldonado to arrive to the community of Monte Salvado. We all rode up together and made a few stops each night to pitch our tents and camp out before heading out in the early morning once again.

This intention of our visit was to experience a deeper connection with the community and to learn more about their rich textile tradition while exploring the possibility of a ceramic workshop that would resurface an ancestral practice amongst the eager women who had not touched the clay in many years.

Led by Emily Urquía Sebastían and Salome Sebastían Vargas, this organic interaction transformed the women of the association and would manifest into an exhibition of study and process called "Gayo"; in honor of the mythical being who to the Yine was represented by a large clay mask with teeth and a cloak of banana leaves. The exhibition featured various masks made by the women and would be part of a long-term plan of continuing to remember and refine their ceramic practice.

Over the course the couple weeks there, the women openly shared with us their practice and wisdom of textile weaving, whose technique still honors the use of the back-strap loom as seen in the video above. Traditionally they would weave with wild cotton harvested from their forests and occasionally when it is available, but today due to demands for their textiles and the effects of climate change, they will often weave with industrial cotton.

Throughout our visit, we were welcomed into the different houses where the women would work on their textiles when they're not weaving in collective at the central artisan house. It was a great opportunity to understand the different designs and styles that the women would create between themselves. Because of the chores of raising family and caring for the household, the women normally dedicate themselves to their weaving and other handicrafts when the time is available.

The association is actively producing these textiles into continuous yardage in order to fashion various designs of clothing, bags, pillows and small accessories. The Yine are very proud of their cultural heritage and continue to innovate on their designs and methodology. 

"The income earned from the production and sale of these goods help supplement their daily costs of living to support our families," says Raquel; a mother and artisan with the association.

When the weaving of the base textiles are completed, the women either elect to paint their ancestral designs or "Yonga" onto the cloth or leave them as they are with their distinct woven design patterns. The word Yonga, is understood as writing or lettering, in the case of the designs it translates "to paint", "to embody" (Smith,2019).

Each design has its own method and sequence of strokes, but generally begins with the frame that will contain the design, starting from a corner and applying repetitive patterns that maintain symmetry without being completely identical. Another feature that highlights the complexity of Yonga designs is that they paint using three types of natural dyes, depending on the surface to be painted. These dyes are barely visible while being applied, so skill is required to achieve the desired appearance of the designs during the painting process.

In contemporary times, the Yine have adapted the use of Tocuyo which is a natural undyed cotton muslin onto which they would paint the Yonga designs. The traditional colors with which they paint their "Yonga" are red, black and brown; the black is the result of a natural chemical synergy between clay and a bark root mix or by painting first with Caoba (Mahogany). The red is achieved from the achiote seed (apijigre in Yine) which along with the other pigments are readily available in their territory.

The tipli and sajijpal are the main inputs used to obtain natural dyes. The tipli is a root similar to cassava. When it is cut into very fine pieces, a yellow color can be obtained, which is used to make the first strokes of the iconographies that will be painted on the textiles; then this yellow color is mixed with the black mud or sajijpal and the black colour is obtained (RER, 2011).

We visited the home of one of the elders Vilma, who is one of the few who holds the knowledge and memory of the various Yine traditions and ancestral stories. Emily had told us how surprised she was with how Vilma opened up during our visit, saying that normally she didn't engage much in what the association was involved with. Her home overlooks the Las Piedras river, and towards the end of our stay she welcomed us to join her for dinner.

We would like to extend a special thank you to all the women of the Monte Salvado community, to the elders who are the keepers of the Yine ancestral knowledge, to Vilma Cuquinchi Laureano for sharing your wisdom and being open to sharing with us, to Emily Urquía Sebastían for her longterm friendship and dedication to supporting the Indigenous art heritage of the Yine, and to all the children who are the future of this community.

Photography: Davis Torres

Video Footage: Davis Torres

Video Edition: Ambulante Audiovisual

Translation: Naomi Urquía Sebastían, Melanie Dizon

©2024 Xapiri Ground. All Rights Reserved.

‍

Visit our Indigenous Heritage section to learn more about the Yine culture and its traditions.