• Ptumarca girls: Weavers from Pitumarca, Peru, warp a loom together. The weaver will work in the discontinuous warp technique to weave the chakana, or cross design. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké.
  • NorthcoastChancay: Chancay culture fragment (CE 1000–1470) from the author’s collection. Native brown cotton with patterning in natural white and dyed red cotton thread. This is the back view of the piece, showing weaving floats and the small diamond-shaped faces of serpents or felines. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké.
  • PotoloWeaving: Potolo weaver from Bolivia creating a complex tapestry inspired by pre-Hispanic motifs—and her own dreams. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké.
  • Tarabuco dancers: Men from Tarabuco in traditional Pujllay celebration clothing, complete with knitted leggings, tire sandals, and hot pink cape. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké.
  • Shipibo: Pekon Rabi, one of a few remaining makers of chitonti, textiles made from homespun cotton woven on a backstrap loom. She is from a community close to the Ucayali river near Pucallpa, Peru. Photo courtesy of (www.linesoflife.xapiri.com)
  • Huilloc manPeru: A man from the village of Huilloc, near Cusco Peru in traditional dress. Photo by Gerardo Guzman.
  • ChincheroChullo: Handknitted traditional chullo from Chinchero, Peru. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké.
  • Chinchero Festival of theVirgin: Masked celebrants in Chinchero at the Festival of the Virgin of the Nativity. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké.
  • Bolivia White Alpacas: Alpacas graze in the rugged landscape of the Bolivian highlands. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké.
  • Anita Uros Islands: A young friend of the author in traditional dress on the Uros Islands in southern Peru. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké.
  • Anata Andina leggings: Spectacular knitted leggings with traditional dimaond patterning are a common feature of men’s Anata Andina festival costumes in Bolivia. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké.
  • Anata dancer: A dancer at the indigenous Anata Andina festival in Oruro, Bolivia. Photo by Cynthia LeCount Samaké.
  • Book Cover

Textile Wonders

Related

  • Detail photo of the stitching on the bags
  • Photo: Anvee Vaid and Anil Vangad.
  • Max (“spider monkeys”), the ceremonial clowns of Chamula, rule Carnival. Dressed in eighteenth-century French military garb, they run through fire as a final act of purification. Photograph by Joe Coca.
  • Scarves drying
  • Window House, Nick Olson and Lilah Horwitz. Image Courtesy of Pestel.