The Secret Life of Plants

Indigenous Inga artist and researcher, Benjamin Jacanamijoy Tisoy (1965)–Uiara Uaua (son of the wind in Quechua)– is a member of a traditional family in Sibundoy (Putamayo. Colombia). He is the heir to a Taita (shaman) who is recognized for the skillful handling of magic plants, particularly yagé. In addition to working as an artist, Uaua is a researcher working on the design theory of Chumbe. Chumbe is the name of the weave of ideographic bands, protector of the fertility of the Inga woman. This weave constructs a kind of ideographic book that is invested with power and knowledge and is, therefore, a maker of worlds. Throughout his production, Uaira Uaua pays special attention to plants. His recent series of works go beyond that of a mere aesthetic search, they consolidate in images of juxtaposition, compendiums of textures, weaves, braids as if they were a chumbe- fragmented in places, catalyzing and transmitting the memory of the integral states of cognition after the ingestion of plants. In this way,  Benjamin succeeds in producing an interweave of codes in which plant life is intertwined with human life, to eat is to archive.