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In the middle of the Atacama Desert, in northern Chile, the colors and patterns of Aymara textiles are inspired by the land that is considered sacred. The craftswomen learn the
IN northern Chile, Teofila Challapa learnt to weave surrounded by the hills and sandy roads of the Atacama Desert.
In the middle of the Atacama Desert, in northern Chile, the colors and patterns of Aymara textiles are inspired by the land that is considered sacred. The craftswomen learn the trade in childhood. The weaving techniques, animal raising and devotion for "Pachamama" (or Mother Earth) have been passed on from grandmothers to their descendants for decades. Today, there's concern that migration and development may threaten the ancestral knowledge that has rooted the Aymara cultural identity to the land.
“Spin the threads, girl,” her grandmother told her a half a century ago.
In northern Chile, Teófila Challapa learned to weave surrounded by the hills and sandy roads of the Atacama Desert. Aymara women like Challapa, now 59, become acquainted with wool threads under blue skies and air so thin that outsiders struggle to breathe. While herding llamas and alpacas through scarce grasslands 11,500 feet above sea level, they create their first textiles.