Art Huni Kuin

The Huni Kuin are the "real men", their graphics are called kene kuin, "true drawing" a mark of the identity of this people, a fundamental element in the beauty of objects and people. Huni Kuin weaving is traditionally made with organic cotton, planted in the fields, which after spun is dyed with natural pigments, but can also be made with industrialized cotton. Older women are the guardians and masters of the art of weaving and also of ritual chants, they are called ainbu keneya, in the indigenous language ‘woman with drawing’ or txana ibu ainbu, ‘owner of japins’. The japim is a bird that weaves elaborate nests and imitates the songs of other birds and animals. The myth tells that it was the boa constrictor Sidika who taught the art of weaving and body painting to women, while the anaconda Yube taught men the art of the vine and its songs, the world of images in transformation. Each graphic (kene) can be opened to reveal all kinds of figuration (dami), because inside the serpent's d