From Hands to Loom to Bloom

Inspired by the healing rituals of northern Peru, her family’s homeland, Cristina Flores Pescorán presents a textile space in which she stages a collective ceremony to connect the human body with woven fabric. Fabrics, medicinal herbs, homemade looms and the act of weaving come together to expand bodily awareness and open up a space for healing.

By transforming the medical gauze that wrapped her body during her chemotherapy for skin cancer into an altar, Flores Pescorán finds ways to reshape her healing process through the net-weaving technique of Chancay gauze. The technique has its origins in the pre-Inca Chancay culture, which flourished on the central Peruvian coast between 1200 and 1470.

By viewing the textile as an extension of the human body, Flores Pescorán invites the audience to engage in a practice of collective healing by opening up the woven structure to expand and reshape it. Participants are invited to sense the stories hidden within every knot and thread as they untangle and weave them. Dyed with the purple maize traditionally used to prepare the unfermented drink chicha morada, the fabric connects ancient memories of festivals and animistic cultures with forgotten knowledge of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant practices.

• Part of ‘L is for the Way You Look at Me II’

IN ENGLISH