Communicating the ayahuasca experience in written word or spoken tales often cannot capture the dreamlike encounters and vivid tessellations typical of an ayahuasca ceremony. Artists help bring the visionary experience to life through the varied mediums of ayahuasca art. From the Shipibo weavings of the amazon to the western acrylic interpretations — art helps show the world the immersive and dynamic realities of this expressive substance. In an exploration of ayahuasca art history, it is essential to distinguish between the indigenous practices and the ways that outsiders have engaged with this sacred brew and its cultural significance in their work. First, let’s discuss ayahuasca and its art.
What Is Ayahuasca Art?
Ayahuasca is made from the bark of the vine: Banisteriopsis caapi plant — colloquially called jagube, caapi or yagé — and is often brewed alongside the DMT containing leaves of the Psychotria viridis to make a psychoactive tea. The entheogenic properties of plants like ayahuasca generate a connection to the divine and are often used for spiritual or religious purposes.
The foundations of ayahuasca art lie in this brew’s sacred significance and healing powers for indigenous South American communities. The ayahuasqueros or curanderos that impart their wisdom onto a growing number of tourists come from a way of life where ayahuasca is intertwined into their communities, cultures and creative pursuits.
The Tukanoan people are thought to have been the first people to prepare and use ayahuasca. Nestled along the edges of the Putumayo River in southern Colombia, the Tukanoan shamans took the symbols they perceived during an ayahuasca vision and communicated them to community members through drawings in the sand or markings on the building walls.
Art and optical mediums are the foundational way for people to communicate their ayahuasca visions. The Tukanoan people used ayahuasca in all aspects of their lives, including spiritual, educational and healing purposes. Motifs of the sun, moon and milky way are present in the Tukanoan ayahuasca symbols — all central to their rituals surrounding procreation and fertility. The ancient patterns and sacred symmetry seen from the origins are present throughout ayahuasca art.
Different Types of Ayahuasca Art
Everyone seeking communion with ayahuasca comes forward with unique cultural contextualizations and interpretations of their experiences. Similarly, in the different types of ayahuasca art, the audience sees the importance of the artist’s intentions and their contribution to the already rich creative lineage.
Ayahuasca Shipibo Art
Ayahuasca art is an essential part of the cultural fabric in indigenous South American communities. The Shipibo-Conibo people of lowland Peru embody the teachings of ayahuasca throughout their varied expressive media forms: jewelry, textiles, carving, body markings and pottery. Art is not something to be kept in a gallery, but rather the Shipibo art is integrated into everyday life. Ayahuasca Shipibo art relies heavily on natural materials like wool, yarn, natural dyes and beads.
The traditional Shipibo art draws upon kené designs: a complex system of patterning representative of the visualizations experienced during an entheogenic trip. Whether male curandero’s ayahuasca visions or the similar hallucinations women experience from traditional piripiri practices, these psychoactive plants inspire and illuminate indigenous history and teachings.
The Shipibo creation story tells of a great snake, Ronin, from whose skin all kené patterns originated. Legend has it that this cosmic serpent met a medicine woman who took inspiration from it’s detailed markings and began the tradition of kené designs. Shipibo people often describe a snake coming to them during an ayahuasca ceremony and helping cleanse their negative energy.
The fine lines seen woven into complex, vibrant rugs or embroidered onto women’s clothing are more than geometric embellishment. They represent the spouting energetic pathways of the universe and provide a canvas for geographical and anatomical representations.
Like the different streets on a map ,the curves and contours of kené have unique names and varied meanings depending on local linguistic tradition. The names and the weaving lines attempt to express ripples of energy rather than perhaps the bird or plant they are named after. However, some design is harnessed to physical realities. Some Shipibo kené represents the intricate rivers and tributaries of the surrounding jungle or serves to accentuate the curvature and fertility of female bodies.
This traditional artform has helped the Shipibo people maintain cultural expression and find comfort during the generations of genocide, displacement and integration with other cultures.
Mestizo Ayahuasca Art
The colonization of South America decimated indigenous populations and forced a melding of cultures that threatened to eradicate native rituals. Today, the term mestizo encompasses the combinations of indigenous and European ancestry across South and Central America. Many modern ayahuasca artists hail from South America and are spreading their creative styles and cultural teachings worldwide.
Pablo Amaringo
The Peruvian Pablo Amaringo is arguably the most well-known ayahuasca artist and taught generations of students his particular painting style. Once a practicing curandero, Amaringo eventually established the Usko-Ayar school of painting — a place where he imparted his imaginative encounters with ayahuasca and inspired a specific intricate neon style.
An Amaringo painting draws the viewer in with a tantalizing juxtaposition of symmetry and contrast. Similar to a mandala, the bright lines and patterns create beautiful layers of flora and fauna, immersing the onlooker into the mystical worlds of chaos and comfort. Amaringo and his students work to communicate balance and evenness while still providing a stimulating and full-bodied composition.
Luis Tamani
Luis Tamani is another revolutionary artist in the realm of ayahuasca art. His art seeks to show the union of animal, plant and mineral — the ancient wisdom of unity of all things. He speaks of ayahuasca’s influence on his art:
“Ayahuasca is a noble medicine that opens, that begins to expand or lost memories, begins to retrieve these ancient memories and it can heal and influence painting, music and various fields of life.”
This is present in his stunningly realistic, intricately compiled collections of patterns that depict images of people, animals and celestial beings. From the mist of the transcendent ayahuasca journey, Tamani communicates the power of generational connection with ancestors and nature.
Western Ayahuasca Art
When outsiders engage with ayahuasca, their interpretations of this medicine’s wisdom can differ from the indigenous experience. The droves of American, European and Australian tourists who participate in ayahuasca retreats often report connection with a benevolent, feminine source that allows them to heal and learn from her. These artistic frameworks can differ from indigenous teaching but present a valid experience in a world where westerners participate in ayahuasca ceremonies.
Chris Dyer
Canadian-born Chris Dyer grew up in the skateboarding scene of Lima, Peru. His large ayahuasca inspired pieces are detailed collections of patterns coming together in neon cartoons, sometimes depicting the ayahuasca ceremony itself.
Dyer see’s ayahuasca — along with introspection and life experiences — as tools for him to transform into a more open vessel for spirit. Freeing himself from the static space of a canvas, Dyer also paints objects like boom boxes, masks and sculptures.
Artistic expression allows people to share the wonders of ayahuasca with others and solidify their personal experience into art. The world of ayahuasca art already has a rich history that only continues to grow as more people open their eyes to and with this powerful plant. The ayahuasca art history pays homage to the indigenous cultures tuning into the cosmos’ patterns, teachings and stories.
Psychonaut Thoughts
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