Pastaza Province, Ecuador
Purchased from the Sacha Runa Research Foundation in 2015
The symbolic language of the ceramic patterns in Canelos Quichua pottery is best documented in the work of Norman and Dorothea Scott Whitten over the course of more than five decades. Female master potters interpret the visions of powerful shamans, bridging mythic and contemporary world events as they relate to the Canelos Quichua people in a self-empowering story of their community. Master potters bring into physical representation spirits and beings of the forest and through their exquisite craftsmanship they manifest their agency as sinchi warmi (strong woman) and the careful process behind their work as sumak kawsay (proper, meaningful existence).
The collection includes everyday serving and eating bowls alongside ceremonial mucawas or drinking bowls decorated with zigzag designs that display and represent turtle patterns and anaconda motifs.