SER PALLAY: THE COLLABORATIVE TEXTILE PROJECT

Ser Pallay is a textile project that revolves around the creation of kunan pallaykuna (contemporary Andean textile iconography) and is the result of a collaboration between textile artists María José Murillo and Verovcha.

Curated by Florencia Portocarrero, the project was built through a series of meetings between September and November 2021 and had a first public moment at the Vigil Gonzalez gallery in Urubamba in December of that same year.

In 2023 Ser Pallay arrives at the ICPNA gallery in Lima's Historic Center. This first itinerancy of the exhibition will include an emphasis on the process of creating the installation, a reflection on the artists' family textile traditions, and the launching of a publication.

Also joining Ser Pallay are weaving artists associated with the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco (CTTC): Alipio Melo (Pitumarca,1989), Celia Sabina Pfoccohuanca (Accha Alta, 1985); Cintia Ylla (Chahuaytire, 1997); Cristina Ylla (Chahuaytire, 1997); Hermelinda Espinoza (Sallac, 2004); Luz Clara Cusihuaman (Chinchero, 2004); Miriam Quispe (Chinchero, 2006) and Norma Ojeda (Patabamba, 1980).

"One of the most important premises of Ser Pallay has been to generate a space for dialogue, learning and co-authorship among artists who, although they have dissimilar origins and training, share a real commitment to the practice of weaving and the preservation of Andean textiles. As a result, the project questions the way in which collaborative relationships between "academically trained" and "traditional" artists have been conceived, as well as the arbitrary aesthetic hierarchies that have historically separated art from craft," explains curator Florencia Portocarrero.