Neyra Pérez Recovers Ancestral Iskonawa Designs in 'El retorno del Roebiri'

Peruvian artist Neyra Pérez presents 'El retorno del Roebiri' at the Centro Cultural Ricardo Palma in Lima, curated by Bufeo: Amazonía + Arte. The exhibition showcases Iskonawa textile designs that were nearly lost after the community was displaced from their ancestral territory, Roebiri (a mountain near the Sierra del Divisor), in the late 1950s by missionaries and the military. The designs began to be recovered in 2018 through work led by anthropologist Carolina Rodríguez and a group of Iskonawa women, including Pérez. Pérez uses yakuchapana resin as pigment on raw canvas, then covers the surface with virgin clay from a lagoon and exposes it to sunlight; UV rays selectively darken the resin-painted areas, and the canvas is finally washed in the river. The designs belong to the kené tradition of the Pano peoples. The exhibition runs until May 9, 2026.