Timoteo Ccarita

Textiles in this region were not considered an art form, but rather a means of communication. In fact, for centuries, this region’s distinctive garments identified their wearers by gender, marital status, and community roles. Many of the patterns used by Timoteo and his team of weavers are interpretations of ancient Andean cosmology: the observations of the stars, repetitious motifs evoking rituals, traditions and customs related to their cosmology which includes the Apus (mountains), the Pachamama (mother cosmos), teqsy muyo (mother earth), auquis (spirits), qhaha (reactionary energies), volcanoes, the sun, earthquakes, winds, and energy vibrations, among many others.

Is an artist weaver from Pitumarca, Perú. Along with his wife, Benita Ccana, he runs a cooperative known for intricately detailed and often ecstatically colorful textiles that look like modern art works. As an artist, Timoteo mixes old and new motifs and by doing so he adds new levels of meaning to traditional design. Beauty and mystery coexist in each of these heirloom-quality textiles. Timoteo uses wool gathered from sheep and camelids from local farmers. Dyes, too, come from locally sourced plants, minerals, or insects. First, wool is spun into yarn with a spindle, which is suspended in the air and twirled until the yarn is strong enough to tolerate the strains of weaving. The yarn is then dyed or left in natural shades of white, gray, brown, and black. Weaving requires great skill and foresight, with vertical and horizontal strands of yarn precisely arranged in intricate motifs. Weaving is made by a with a back strap loom. The whole handmade process involves hundreds of members of the community, mostly women, from shearing the alpacas, spinning the yarn or dyeing the wool. It's a true community event. Tapestries, Timoteo´s signature pieces, are a perfect blend of the cross-cultural elements of the 16th– and 17th-century era of global trade with Inca techniques and design motifs. The combination of Spanish with Inca traditions and Timoteo´s imagination results in art objects of hybrid beauty.