It is an intimate work, the contemporary art created by the last remaining family of the Aimenᶤ (White Heron) clan in Peru.

“The Last Family of the Clan” exhibition showcases the work of two artists: Santiago Yucarcani Lopez and Nereyda López Guitiérrez. The pair lead the last family of the Aimenᶤ (White Heron) clan in Peru from the Huitoto community located on the Ampiyacú River which is an affluent of the Amazonas. The have their daily lives, and they make art. It´s part of their daily chores.

I attended the exhibition featuring their work a few months ago in Iquitos. Their art is created as a “theater act”. It´s their recreation of the Gods of the Manaᶤdᶤ.

The book published from the event is their documentation of their family histories, the spirit worlds, with the clear intention of preserving them in written form and sharing them. As it reads, the work of this art is “to detach from dominant hierarchies and reconcile with our original indigenous condition: the spiritual universe we come from and inevitably advance towards”.

The work of this exhibition shook me, glancing from one mask to the next recognizing my own wooden face, my own fable of myself, and the Gods that grace my world and life. The creatures living in each and every part of ourselves, the worlds we inhabit or extrapolate ourselves from. From me as a human, hopefully able to appreciate a small amount of their profound consciousness and connection.

As is written about their work:

“Their works are static presences of being resting from a long journey, travelers from a timeless time, mythical animals who retain the features that humans possess today.

What are the mythical animals I have not yet found in the everyday?