Paraguayan Indigenous art is the visual art created by the indigenous peoples of Paraguay. While indigenous artists embrace contemporary Western art media, their arts also include pre-Columbian art forms. Indigenous art includes ceramics, baskets, weaving and threading, feather art and leather work. It is a hybrid nature includes the embroideries, lace, woodcarving and different metal products. Paraguay is particularly known for its indigenous featherwork and basket weaving. [1]
The handmade products of Paraguay are of a great variety and comprise ceramic articles, as well as embroideries and sewn articles, as well as wood, baskets, leather work and silver work. Pre-Columbian ceramics made in the Paraguayan territory were rustic and made from terracotta clay. They were painted in red, and occasionally in black and white. The clay used to be worked by hand. Some tribes incised their pottery with decorations before firing.
The Spanish, especially the Jesuits, influenced the technical level of production and the finishing of the native ceramics. These had been characterized by extreme simplicity and production of functional goods. The Jesuits taught the Indian population in the missions.
Ceramic products produced today by some Indian groups include jars, flower vases, and some without specific shapes, as well as water vases. Among those, the pottery most widely sold today due to its beauty and quality comes from Tobaty and Ita.
Baskets are woven from the fibers of canes. Paraguayan Indians weave open baskets, baskets with handles, hand fans, shades, place mats, and especially piri, the typical Paraguayan hat of the country men. Leather products, such as bags, hats, sacks, etc. have their main centers in Limpio and Luque, where also centers for production of beautiful baskets. Materials for wickerwork include indigenous bromeliads including tacuarembó and caraguatá, as well as pindo palm leaves. [1]
The rich Indian basket production of Paraguay is dividing by plantations. For example, in some communities where the main crop is cassava, baskets are solid with great storage capacity. The ajaka mbya basket is an average of 35 centimeters diameter with rigid supports that can to hold the heavy weight of the cassavas.
The ajak is a basket made by weaving tacuarembo and dark guembepi, making braided figures as well as geometric ones, in accordance with the Guaraní concept of beauty. The baskets associated with the production of corn are smaller and lighter and are constructed from pindo palm tree leaves.
Ceramics are an ancient art form in Paraguay, and ancient ceramics have been preserved through the centuries. Ceramics range from the utilitarian—cooking vessels, water jugs—to the sacred, such as funerary urns. [1]
A precolumbian art form, featherwork provides distinctive personal adornment. Brilliantly colored feathers are fashioned into anklets, bracelets, collars, headdresses, and even entire cloaks. Guaraní medicine men used to wear full feather cloaks. The Guaraní create feather headdresses called jeguaka worn during ceremonial occasions. [1]
Indian embroidery, weaving, and other textile art are an important source of income for the domestic economy. Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Indians used a horizontal piece of material to make hammocks with cotton threads, as well as the baskets and bags to transport food and nets for fishing and hunting.
Later on they also knitted ponchos and other clothing items. As with ceramics, the Jesuits also introduced new techniques in this area, using the vertical frame to make the threads. Tribal artisans began producing sheets, towels, blankets, table clothes and other articles, as well as the special hammocks, which were knitted and still are with cotton threads and ornaments on the sides.
New technical resources brought by the Spanish inspired the typical cotton dresses, the ones called ao poi, made with a fine thread, and the povyi, a little wider thread weaving, as well as linen, and the beautiful ñanduti, which means "spider web" in Guaraní language and consists of fine embroidery, with which table clothes, curtains, blouses and more are made.
The most coveted textiles are the Ñandutí embroideries made in the cities of Guarambaré and Itauguá. Woven ponchos, known for their beauty and quality, are made by the ethnic groups Lengua, Maskoy, Nivaclé, and Wichí from the Gran Chaco. They use sheep wool tinted in red and the ones called of 60 lists, made in Pirayú and Yataity, in the Guairá Department.
Ancient indigenous peoples of Paraguay carved petroglyphs into stone, particularly in the hills of Amambay Department. [2]
Wood is carved into ceremonial masks, smoking pipes, chairs known as apyká, and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic effigies. [1] Gourds are also carves with images.
The Chamacoco ethnic group, from the Alto Paraguay Department, used dresses during their annual ritual called Debylyby. These are knitted of special fibers. Associated masks are carved from the karaguata tree and adorned with feathers from Chaco birds.
The Chamacocos used a pupo, a protective vest made of karaguata. The pupo is knitted when the fibers are wet; these become rigid when dry and can serve as armor. They protected the wearer from the arrows of the enemies.
The weaving of Karaguata is an important element of Indigenous art in Paraguay. It is an expression of the Indian people of the Gran Chaco. The bags of Karaguata are some of the most common applications of fiber twining. Collector's bags are mainly used by women, who carry them on their backs and have a form of a large half moon. Hunting bags are smaller, rectangular, carried by men on their shoulders.
The Pai Tavytera from Eastern Paraguay and Brazil are known for their necklaces made from carved wood and colorful seeds of different fruits. [3] They use urucú, a red dye made from Bixa orellana for body painting. Personal adornment is made from feathers, such as those of the toucan, and cotton. Labrets are made from resin. Men typically weave baskets, while women make ceramics. [4] They are also being consulted in interpreting ancient rock art in Amambay. [2]
The Toba tribe makes textiles from colorful wool threads, as well as the traditional bags, piri hats and carandilla leaf baskets.
The Mbayá Indians have a special ability in making baskets of natural tacuara, that are decorated with drawings of Guembepi and animals of the zone, as well as their necklaces and wood carving.
The ayoreos bagas are one of the coveted Indian handiwork. These bags are made with karaguata fibers and exemplify rustic Indian beauty in its conception. The adherence to traditional aesthetics makes them extremely attractive. The Ayoreo also make dishes and spoons of Palo Santo wood and feather art.
The members of the Maka tribe are excellent weavers. Their traditional blankets, belts, and other elements are knitted with colorful threads.
Ava Guaraní are highly skilled at making baskets and hammocks. They use karaguata fibers, as well as guembepi for baskets that represent a novelty in the Indian work of the country.
The art produced by these two ways of living, nomadic and sedentary, reflect the difference of each one. The communities based in the recollection system are nomads. Therefore, their lifestyle allows for a more flexible and open culture, with many adaptations. In the other extreme, the Guaraní agricultural society is very attached to the land and its natural cycles, and naturally presents a conservative tendency, which can be closed to innovations. They distinguish their own from the other's property and have ongoing issues about the need to absorb or reject the foreign influences. [5]
Despite the differences in these societies and the special characteristics of each one, scholars say that it is possible to establish some shared elements in all Indian communities who live or have lived in Paraguay. Indigenous art – through its symbols and the free exercise of tribal languages – is one of the most important manifestations of indigenous culture in Paraguay.
Both the collectors and the agricultural societies have as a social nucleus, a mythical body-ritual, from where they can articulate and develop political power, in the judicial order, free time, beauty, and religion.
The mythical axis mundi-ritual, in essence the Indian cosmology, is composed of communal ceremonies. These are the moments when the community, through songs, dances and rites, show their identity. Indigenous art finds its first fundamental origins in those ceremonies and in the human body–its principal support. Feathers use in ornamentation, tattoos, and body paintings in the case of the Chaco Indians and the feather art among the Guaraní constitute basic elements of the Indigenous art in Paraguay.
A number of museums are dedicated to showcased indigenous Paraguayan art. These include the Guido Boggiani Museum in San Lorenzo and in Asunción, the Andrés Barbero Ethnographic Museum, [6] the Museum of Indigenous Art, [1] and the Museo del Barro (Museum of Clay).
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Guarani is a group of culturally-related indigenous peoples of South America. They are distinguished from the related Tupi by their use of the Guarani language. The traditional range of the Guarani people is in what is now Paraguay between the Paraná River and lower Paraguay River, the Misiones Province of Argentina, southern Brazil once as far east as Rio de Janeiro, and parts of Uruguay and Bolivia.
Amambay is a department in Paraguay. The capital is Pedro Juan Caballero.
The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, where it is connected with the Pantanal region. This land is sometimes called the Chaco Plain.
The Paraguayan Chaco or Región Occidental is a semi-arid region in Paraguay, with a very low population density. The area is being rapidly deforested. Consisting of more than 60% of Paraguay's land area, but with less than 3% of the population, the Chaco is one of the most sparsely inhabited areas in South America.
The Wayuu are an Amerindian ethnic group of the Guajira Peninsula in northernmost part of Colombia and northwest Venezuela. The Wayuu language is part of the Maipuran (Arawak) language family.
Piña is a traditional Philippine fiber made from the leaves of the pineapple plant. Pineapples are indigenous to South America but have been widely cultivated in the Philippines since the 17th century, and used for weaving lustrous lace-like luxury textiles known as nipis fabric. The name is derived from Spanish piña, meaning "pineapple".
Sprang is an ancient method of constructing fabric that has a natural elasticity. Its appearance is similar to netting, but unlike netting sprang is constructed entirely from warp threads. Archaeological evidence indicates that sprang predates knitting; the two needlework forms bear a visible resemblance and serve similar functions but require different production techniques.
Maya textiles (k’apak) are the clothing and other textile arts of the Maya peoples, indigenous peoples of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize. Women have traditionally created textiles in Maya society, and textiles were a significant form of ancient Maya art and religious beliefs. They were considered a prestige good that would distinguish the commoners from the elite. According to Brumfiel, some of the earliest weaving found in Mesoamerica can date back to around 1000-800 B.C.E.
The manufacture of textiles is one of the oldest of human technologies. To make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fiber from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving, which turns yarn into cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. For decoration, the process of colouring yarn or the finished material is dyeing. For more information of the various steps, see textile manufacturing.
African textiles are textiles from various locations across the African continent. Across Africa, there are many distinctive styles, techniques, dyeing methods, and decorative and functional purposes. These textiles hold cultural significance and also have significance as historical documents of African design.
The Andean textile tradition once spanned from the Pre-Columbian to the Colonial era throughout the western coast of South America, but was mainly concentrated in Peru. The arid desert conditions along the coast of Peru have allowed for the preservation of these dyed textiles, which can date to 6000 years old. Many of the surviving textile samples were from funerary bundles, however, these textiles also encompassed a variety of functions. These functions included the use of woven textiles for ceremonial clothing or cloth armor as well as knotted fibers for record-keeping. The textile arts were instrumental in political negotiations, and were used as diplomatic tools that were exchanged between groups. Textiles were also used to communicate wealth, social status, and regional affiliation with others. The cultural emphasis on the textile arts was often based on the believed spiritual and metaphysical qualities of the origins of materials used, as well as cosmological and symbolic messages within the visual appearance of the textiles. Traditionally, the thread used for textiles was spun from indigenous cotton plants, as well as alpaca and llama wool.
The visual arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America and North America, which includes Central America and Greenland. The Siberian Yupiit, who have great cultural overlap with Native Alaskan Yupiit, are also included.
Salish are skilled weavers and knitters of the Pacific Northwest. They are most noted for their beautiful twill blankets many of which are very old. The adoption of new fabrics, dyes, and weaving techniques allow us to study a wide variety of Salish weavings today.
Indigenous peoples in Paraguay, or Native Paraguayans, include 17 ethnic groups belonging to five language families. While only a 1.7% of Paraguay's population is fully indigenous, 75% of the population identifies as being partially of indigenous descent; however, the majority do not identify as being indigenous but as Mestizos. Most of the native population lives in the northwestern part of the country, the Gran Chaco.
The Chamacoco people (Ishír) are an indigenous people of Paraguay. Some also live in Brazil.
Amuzgo textiles are those created by the Amuzgo indigenous people who live in the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca. The history of this craft extends to the pre-Columbian period, which much preserved, as many Amuzgos, especially in Xochistlahuaca, still wear traditional clothing. However, the introduction of cheap commercial cloth has put the craft in danger as hand woven cloth with elaborate designs cannot compete as material for regular clothing. Since the 20th century, the Amuzgo weavers have mostly made cloth for family use, but they have also been developing specialty markets, such as to collectors and tourists for their product.
The Pai Tavytera are an indigenous people of Paraguay and Brazil. They primarily live in Amambay Department in Paraguay and the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
The Chancay were a pre-Hispanic archeological civilization that developed between the valleys of Fortaleza, Pativilca, Supe, Huaura, Chancay, Chillón, Rimac and Lurín, on the central coast of Peru, from about 1000 to 1470 CE.
Basketry of Mexico has its origins far into the pre Hispanic period, pre-dating ceramics and the domestication of crops. By the time the Spanish arrived, there were a number of indigenous forms, a number of which are still made today. These and products that the Spanish introduced form the combined tradition that remains today. Like other Mexican handcrafts, sales to tourists and collectors is important, but basketry is not as popular as other handcrafts. Basketry techniques and materials vary from region to region depending on the vegetation available, with important traditions in Sonora, State of Mexico, Michoacán, Veracruz, Oaxaca and the Yucatán Peninsula.
Hidalgo (state) handcrafts and folk art are mostly made for local consumption rather than for collectors, although there have been efforts to promote this work to a wider market. Most are utilitarian and generally simply decorated, if decorated at all. The most important handcraft traditions are pottery, especially in the municipality of Huejutla and textiles, which can be found in diverse parts of the state. Most artisans are indigenous, with the Otomi populations of the Mezquital Valley being the most dominant. Other important handcrafts include basketry, metal and wood working.
