Our art programs deepen and revive fundamental ancestral practices within the framework of intergenerational knowledge transmission, encouraging their innovation.

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According to traditional Shipibo wisdom, the secrets of the designs were revealed to women along with the use of vegetal technologies in ancient times, "when the heavens were so close to the earth that one could reach out and touch the sky, and animals spoke like people, and humans could transform into animals at will."

Shipibo art is a lifelong, highly ritualised practice, and a moral imperative. The ability to create artefacts that convey social messages of care and attention becomes central to defining oneself as the 'True People.' Both people and artefacts must be shaped to distinguish themselves from the brute and maintain the delicate state of harmonious affective social relations, upon which community and environmental health depend. This requires great effort, self-mastery, and self-sacrifice.

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Collective well-being underscores the need for self-surrender, for letting go of the ego, to transform the destructive and dangerous inner and cosmic forces that constantly threaten the fragile state of coexistence. These are the motivations behind the Shipibo inclination towards Indigenous communal life, exemplified by the practice of reciprocity known as akinananti, a concept similar to the minga tradition in Quechua culture.

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At the Multiversity Bakish Mai, we explore the potential of creating with these tools and this memory, encouraging processes of renewal that reaffirm our identity through a deep connection with our ancestors and the land.

The use of plant dyes is intrinsically linked to creation, reminding us of the inseparable bond between artistic practice and medicinal plants. Each pigment comes from a tree, seed, or fruit that, through specific processes, is transformed, reflecting a deep connection with the whole that goes beyond the material world.