Talk, Exhibition & Workshop
In 2016, archaeologists from George Washington University found a piece of a 6,000 year-old indigo dyed textile at Huaca Prieta (*), a prehistoric settlement in Peru. Until then, the oldest indigo-dyed fabric in existence was believed to be a 4,400 year old piece in Egypt. This piece gives a new perspective on the technologies developed across the American continent by its original inhabitants.
K´itha Tarwi en el Mechanic Shop is a public-art installation by artist María Elena Pombo inspired by this discovery at F&T Auto Repair Shop, a car-repair shop in Bushwick owned by a Peruvian-Dominican family. The installation uses deadstock silk organza dyed with Indigofera Suffruticosa grown in Puerto Rico by Trama Antillana and Indigofera Guatemalensis grown in El Salvador by Hacienda Los Nacimientos. Two of few projects growing native American indigo in present times.
The installation is named after a Quechua word for the indigo plant.
Opening Block Party
6:00pm - 7:00pm: Indigo Workshop with Fragmentario (María Elena Pombo)
6:00pm - 8:00pm: Andean Sounds by Mundo Extraño (Andrés Altamirano)
8:00pm - 9:00pm: Music Performance by Flutist Camilo Ángeles, Bassist Henry Fraser, and Drummer Jason Nazary
Sweet potato snacks inspired by Huaca Prieta, where the oldest remains of sweet potatoes where also found.
María Elena Pombo is a Venezuelan artist based in NYC. Since 2016 she has designed and taught classes on natural dyes through a decolonial and non-extractivist lens in cultural centers, botanical gardens, film festivals, nightclubs, and more, across the USA, Europe and Japan.
Andrés Altamirano is an Ecuadorian-born visual artist and photographer working primarily between New York City and Latin America.