Historically, scholars propose spinning yarn and weaving textiles were primarily women’s work. This is a feminine connection that persists in textile and fiber arts all over the world. Yet there’s nothing particularly “feminine” about the motifs that appear in the textiles and ceramics from across these cultures. Despite their differences, they shared primary beliefs, especially respect for nature, an almost divine connection between the human and animal domains, and the continuity between life and death.
In the exhibition, women’s handicraft is evidenced by an intricately-painted ceramic bowl produced between the second and eighth centuries. A workshop populated by seated women weaving diligently on backstrap looms circles around the inner rim of the bowl. The careful depiction of the weavers on the artifact speaks to the centrality of textile production in the ancient Andean region.
The finely-wrought tunics and mantles embellished with colorful, detailed embroidery worn to political and religious events by the ruling class of the Paracas, who inhabited the southern coast of Peru for about 1,000 years, from 500 B.C.E. to 500 C.E., clearly communicated their superior status and wealth. One mantle dated 100 B.C.E.–C.E. 200 features over 50 embroidered figures that strut across the colorfully-dyed garment. The elaborately-stitched tunics, headdresses, and ear ornaments denote their divine status. The figures each carry a pet—what scholars can identify, by its pronounced stripes, as a Pampas cat, a handy predator who scared vermin and other destructive animals away from crops. It’s unclear what is meant by the winding motifs that erupt from their hands and mouths. The exhibition wall text suggests that they “mimic the cats’ protruding tongues and signify the effort to embody the supernatural forces that govern the natural world.”