Empowerment of Women and Shipibo Knowledge in Cantagallo. An Analysis of an Artistic Exhibition by the “Non Shinanbo” Collective

Abstract

This paper attempts to demonstrate how the artworks in the exhibition “Madres plantas y mujeres luchadoras. Visiones desde Cantagallo”, created by the Shipibo artists of the Non Shinanbo collective, constitute a testimonial record that evidences the strategies that emerged within Cantagallo, an urban indigenous community, in the context of the measures taken by the Peruvian State during the first stage of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through the “reading” and analysis of a selection of artworks and based on interviews with the artists, it will be illustrated how their work creates an effective testimony that emphasizes
the empowerment of the women in the community, the significance of the bonds of solidarity within the community and the relevance of Shipibo traditional knowledge, which is open to heterogeneous elements, thus evidencing its modernity and complexity.