Crafting Memory: The Art of Community in Peru opens Sunday, December 3, 2017

September 29th, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 29, 2017 (Santa Fe, NM)—The Museum of International Folk Art unveils Crafting Memory: The Art of Community in Peru, an important exhibition of contemporary folk art that expresses political, economic, and environmental ideas, and uses memory and heritage to forge the future.

The public will be able to see the exhibition for the first time during its opening reception, Sunday, December 3, 1–4 pm, 706 Camino Lejo, on Museum Hill. The exhibition runs through July 17, 2019.

“When we look at folk arts from Peru, we may imagine them springing from traditional life— small communities insulated from a frantic world, where change occurs very slowly and the daily pace is set by agricultural cycles,” says Amy Groleau, Ph.D., MOIFA’s curator of Latin American Folk Art and the curator Crafting Memory. “While this is sometimes the case, it is becoming increasingly rare. In fact, much of today’s Peruvian folk art is emerging from its urban centers.”

Visitors will see examples of traditional Peruvian weaving, textiles, retablo-making, and silversmithing—reinterpreted for the 21^st Century.

“Crafting Memory offers new avenues for thinking about Peruvian folk art for our visitors and scholars alike,” says Khristaan Villela, Ph.D., MOIFA director. “The exhibition exemplifies perfectly the museum’s commitment to reframing the discourse around past and living traditions worldwide.”

Crafting Memory opens with a public reception on Sunday, December 3, 2017 1–4 pm. Here, visitors will enjoy music by Albuquerque-based Baracutanga, a seven-piece band of musicians from Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the United States that performs traditional South American music in new and interesting ways. The event also offers hands-on activities and food by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico. Admission is free for New Mexico residents with ID.

Some of the works on view address Peru’s “time of violence,” the two decades (1980–2000) that saw the armed conflict between the Maoist revolutionary movement Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and the government’s military forces. At the same time that it considers a legacy of violence, Crafting Memory expresses hopefulness via the living folk art traditions that focus not on yesterday’s problems, but on today’s solutions.

The exhibit combines recent works with historic examples from MOIFA’s collection. It includes folk art from urban centers such as Lima—including contemporary adaptations of familiar articles of Peruvian clothing such as the pollera (Andean gathered skirt) and the chullo (men’s traditional knit hat with pom-poms and ear flaps) that marry traditional attire with contemporary fashion or sculpture.

“What’s exciting is that this exhibition demonstrates the ways in which people have used folk arts to overcome adversity and strengthen community,” says Groleau. “Crafting Memory examines how the arts bring people together by making their shared stories and memories tangible.” Captions:

(Left) Qarla Quispe Huamani Polleras (Skirts) Lima, Peru, 2017 Synthetic fabric, cotton, paper, plastic Museum of International Folk Art, IFAF Collection, FA.2017.74.1-6 Qarla Quispe is among the young artists in Lima working to reclaim indigenous roots by placing Quechua traditions at the center of contemporary, urban identity. She designs polleras, the full gathered skirts of the highlands, for women to wear in celebration of Quechua heritage.

(Center} Amapolay Pueblos Originarios en Resistencia (First Peoples in Resistance) Lima, Peru, 2017 Paper, ink Museum of International Folk Art, IFAF Collection, FA.2017.42.5 Peruvian Gráfica Popular is flourishing in Lima with a variety of collectives producing bold prints that remix traditional Andean and rainforest symbolism with urban aesthetics. Amapolay is one such group that works to promote solidarity among marginalized communities and to bring visibility to political, economic, and social issues of the day.

(Right) Rosalia Tineo Torres La Tortura de mi Papa (My Father’s Torture) Ayacucho, Peru, 2017 Ceramic, pigment Museum of International Folk Art, IFAF Collection, FA.2017.46.1ab Contemporary folk artists are now using their skills to give testimony to their experiences during Peru’s Internal Armed Conflict (1980–2000). Here Rosalia Tineo uses clay whistles, an art form she learned from her father Leoncio Tineo, to depict her father’s capture and torture at the hands of an armed militia.

Media Contact: Tricia Ware (505) 603-0356 tricialouiseware@gmail.com

About the Museum of International Folk Art: http://www.internationalfolkart.org/

Founded in 1953 by Florence Dibell Bartlett, the Museum of International Folk Art’s mission is to foster understanding of the traditional arts to illuminate human creativity and shape a humane world. The museum holds the world’s largest international folk art collection of more than 150,000 objects from six continents and over 150 nations, representing a broad range of global artists whose artistic expressions make Santa Fe an international crossroads of culture. For many visitors, fascination with folk art begins upon seeing the whimsical toys and traditional objects within the Girard Collection. For others, the international textiles, ceramics, carvings and other cultural treasures in the Neutrogena Collection provide the allure.  The museum’s historic and contemporary Latino and Hispano folk art collections, spanning the Spanish Colonial period to modern-day New Mexico, reflect how artists respond to their time and place in ways both delightful and sobering. In 2010, the museum opened the Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience, where exhibitions encourage visitors to exchange ideas on complex issues of human rights and social justice. A division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. 706 Camino Lejo, on Museum Hill in Santa Fe, NM 87505. (505) 476-1200. Hours: 10 am to 5 pm daily, May through October; closed Mondays November through April, closed Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Events, news releases and images about activities at the Museum of International Folk Art and other divisions in the Department of Cultural Affairs can be accessed at www.media.newmexicoculture.org