Over the last 8 months, we have made four visits into the Matsigenka community of Shipetiari to cultivate relationships with key individuals, artisans, and families in order to initiate our project "the Storytellers". We share with you this general update of our experiences thus far...

The Matsigenka received our team members Davis Torres, Jack Wheeler, and Melanie Dizon to begin a long-standing project of art and storytelling; connecting the youth with the oral traditions of their elders and living culture through creatively driven workshops.

We performed a series of three workshops that involved a few drawing and painting exercises, where the children would listen to the stories of two Matsigenka elders, Terri and Gregorio, and would choose personages to illustrate each in their own way. The results were impressive, inspiring, and fun. The children were not timid in their expression, especially given the fact that this was their first time with paint and brush.

In addition to the workshops, we experienced many intimate moments between couples, their families, and individual members of the community, learning about various aspects of their Matsigenka culture.

Roberto demonstrates how to play the traditional mouth harp known as a Pegombirintsi, which he constructed out of special reeds and vine.

Nati is the wife of Roberto and is skilled in reed basketmaking and cetico hand-knotting used to create their traditional 'Jempo' bags.

We get to understand their culture and contemporary view on life, we follow them through the forests that they know and sense throughout their lives, and we get to hear their song and story that floats the imagination and grounds their reality.

Ana specializes in the making of hand-knotted bags called 'Jempo' made from cetico fibre. She also prepares a very strong masato drink made of fermented yuca, a common drink in every household.

Lola carries the tradition of palm-weaving and hand-knotting with chambira fibre and her husband Luciano is skilled in the making hunting arrows.

We will be sharing more updates on the specific workshops and the key families and individuals to whom we've connected with during these visits.

We hope that you continue to follow our progress with this long-standing project of art and storytelling, focused on connecting the youth with the oral traditions of their elders and living culture through creative workshops and relationship building.

This project is made possible through our partnership with SePerú; a non-profit organization dedicated to equal benefits and co-management of Peruvian Indigenous communities and their natural ecosystem.

Support this project so that we can continue nourishing the ancestral knowledge of the Matsigenka people.

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