Multipurpose Company
TENKA KIRANO Emilia Lloret
“Throughout the centuries, Latin America has not only experienced the usurpation of gold and silver, salt and rubber, copper and oil: it has also suffered the gravest theft, that is that of memory�
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Eduardo Galeano, Open veins of Latin Amerca (1977)
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Tenka Kirano Project Summary
How to represent a reality where cosmology and mythology are crucial factors of everyday life, yet are intangible? To only depict the physical side would have felt like reinforcing an often stereotypical and misconstrued image of the Tsáchilas, an indigenous group situated in the foothills of the Andes in Ecuador. The Tsáchilas are part of a group of Native American cultures that express “thought” through our western concept of heart and soul.Their language, Tsáfiqui, has more than twenty different ways to express thinking and feeling; this denotes how they can achieve high states of consciousness.
All these terms come from the word “ tenka” (heart, soul) and combines with others like “kirano” which means, “to look ”, so Tenka Kirano would be literally translated as to see with your soul. Tenka Kirano is an on-going photo project that started in the summer of 2013 for my MA in Documentary Photography in London College of Communication; where I was studying thanks to a scholarship. This is a collaborative project with the Tsáchila Aguavil family, which intends to create a visual representation of a reality that does not reveal itself within a glimpse.
Montserrat Ventura, an anthropologist that has lived with the Tsáchilas for more than 10 years and guided me in this project, explains that the American ethnology has a double inheritance history: the interest in the origin and development of the high civilisations, and fascination on savage societies. Apart from evolutionary studies, very few studies have been devoted to the analysis of these two types of society. Only during the last thirty years has ethnology discovered the analytical scope of history to understand societies of South America.
Therefore, when undertaking an investigation into a community that is in the intersection of these two worlds, and trying to understand it from the ethnological point of view, it seems that we still lack benchmarks and theoretical and methodological tools.
The encounter with a society that does not fit well in classic ethnological typologies requires, since the start, special analytical effort. Research should expose the cultural logic of a society that cannot be understood from a simple glance.
With this project our principal aim is to awaken the notion of how the Tsáchilas perceive and understand the world, presenting a photographic tribute to this oftenunknown imperceptible side. We also intend to use photography as a creative and participative tool for the new Tsáchila genThe mythical stories mentioned I believe the same happens with erations to appreciate and learn throughout her book about the visual representation of the about their mythology and cosTsáchila identity, have a largely il- Tsáchilas, which needs a differmology, which is currently threatlustrative value that tries to study ent narrative from the supposed ened by what Gruzinski (1991) a system of thought that otherprivileged access that documen- defines as the “colonisation of wise would be deducted from a tary photography has to the truth, the imaginary” which explains very simplistic and crude way of especially when important parts how a culture starts adopting understanding this culture. of this “truth” are intangible like views and ways of thinking from their system of though and their another culture. mythology.
“Ever since the rise of science
and the scientific method in the seventeenth century, we have rejected mythology as the product of superstitious and primitive minds. Only now are we coming to a fuller appreciation of the nature and role of myth in human history” Claude Lévi-Strauss, Myth and meaning (1995)
Tenka Kirano Methods
The principal method for this project was researching, before starting the project, I understood that it was crucial to research the people who I intend to have as my main audience and the context where I plan to show the pictures. If wanted to make a visual story about the Tsáchilas, having in mind principally the new Tsáchilas genertion and secondly an Ecuadorian audience, I knew I needed to understand the visual way in which Tsáchilas have been represented in my country, and in general the concept that other Ecuadorians had about them, to understand how my pictures would function under those paradigms.
It was surprising to realise that the perception about them was so ingrained in our culture that it was almost always the same response no matter the education level, age, social status etc. Later, I realised it was not only ingrained in the way the rest of the country perceives the Tsáchilas, but also in the way they perceived themselves to outsiders. The two most frequent responses I got were: •Why would you do a project about the Tsáchilas if most of them dress normally now? And
•You should go to the deep jungle where you can still find “real” tribes. Don’t waste your time showing an indigenous group that have “lost” their culture. This second response implied the mind-set most Ecuadorians had about how the photographic relevance should be based on how “savage” and how “isolated” they were, this concept was very important because it´s the main concept we want to tackle through the pictures, showing that most of the richness of this culture is intangible and we should try to understand it under their own terms.
Since I was a little girl, I´ve been going to this place every summer but it was a crucial part of the methodology for this project moving there with the Aguavil family for three months in the summer of 2013, this helped me to understand their culture in a deeper way, there are many reasons why the new Tsáchila generations are going through this “colonisation of the imaginary” and becoming more and more westernized, like the school in Spanish they attend, the fast growing city near to their lands, etc. All these circumstances are making them less interested in their own mythology and more interested in TV.
After some weeks there I realised that myths were still very important for the adults but the children didn’t seem that interested.
I made a big research in different libraries and worked very closely with the eldery people and the shaman of the village to collect the most important myths and One night talking with Suyun, the particularities of their system of shaman of the community, we thought. were thinking of ideas on how to They helped me to translate them make the children reconnect and to their language: Tsáfiqui and find interest in this important part then pass them to the kids, we of their culture, we understood then made the children participate that the visual side that the TV by asking them how they imagoffered them was probably one ined this characters and how they of the biggest things to compete think they would look, we collect with, so we decided to create their many natural materials, fabric, own visual interpretation of their paint and let the kids create their myths and make the children not own costumes and then perform only a passive listener but rather the stories and took pictures. an active participant in the creation of these visual representations.
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“Most Tsáchilas don’t impart their legends anymore, most elderly people have an almost encyclopaedic knowledge about myth, but unfortunately it’s doomed to oblivion.”
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Monserrat Ventura, Identity and Tsáchila Shamanism (1995)
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Tenka Kirano Objectives
• Our principal aim is for the new Tsáchilas generations to reconnect, learn and value their mythology, in a creative and collaborative way by letting the children be the main performers and creative directors in the project.
interviewing techniques and is intended to facilitate a process of collective analysis and learning.
• We want to awaken the notion of how the Tsáchilas perceive and understand the world, presenting a photographic tribute to this often• To use photography in a posiunknown imperceptible side, tive way, instead of reinforcing the image of what is being lost I through open air photographic wanted to try to add value to the exhibitions in the main cities of Ecuador: Quito, Guayaquil, important aspects of their culture Cuenca and Santo Domingo, so that still exist. it can reach different audiences that don’t go to art galleries • To use Participatory Learning which is an approach for .• To add a visual layer to the learning about and engaging purpose of works like the ones with communities. It uses visual of (Grusinki, 1991) which are methods with natural
trying to destroy the myth of colonized societies being read simply as accultured societies, we want viewers, specially the Ecuadorian viewers, to think and conceived that this culture is much more complex than we can even begging to understand, in order for the Tsáchilas to be more respected and valued in their own land and country. • To use photography as a tool for creating and representing knowledge in way that is based more on their own imagination and interpretation than trying to find an objective account of their reality.
Tenka Kirano future plans
A cielo abierto, exhibition in the city center in Quito, Ecuador.
• If I get the support to continue with this project I plan to move in with the Aguavil Family from 8 months to 10 months, to keep working in more depth dozens of other legends and traditions that are still untold, I will work not only with this family but with other 30 families and the school of the community. • I will develop a booklet with the images and the explanation of each legend that will be handed to all Tsáchila kids and families.
to support me with distribution and exhibitions of the projects, I plan to do an open-air exhibition with the organization “ a cielo abierto” what they do is to exhibit pictures in public places to transcend the limitations of elite and exclusive art galleries that only certain people are allowed to enter, and specially because I want the work to reach different types of Ecuadorian audiences I need to find the easiest way to reach my audience. It will be exhibited in the main cities of Ecuador: Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, and Sto Domingo (which is the closest city to where the live)
• I have been already in contact with the Ministry of Culture and they are willing AdDress: 1356 Donec ut euismod nibh. Maecenas bibendum adipiscing, 1500 Nullam nec.
•I would have an online platform where people can learn more about the Tsáchila culture through their mythology and system of thought.
PHONE: +134 566 7566 • 566 7588 • 566 7799 WEBSITE: www.designfreebies.org
Tenka Kirano According to Tsรกchilas traditions, the Earth contains many spirits (oko). Most of them come from the natural world as we find mountain spirits (du oko) or powerful animal spirits, like the tiger spirit (kela oko). Others are immaterial, like the luban oko (red spirits), omnipresent in the mythical world, and against which there exist countless formulas, characterized for being attracted to blood. It can take multiple different forms and transform into human or animal. They usually appear when they smell blood, that is why when the Tsรกchilas go hunting they have to cover any traces of blood or the luban oko can appear and attack.
Luban Oko, from the series Tenka Kirano 2013.
Tenka Kirano Before the Spanish colonisation, the Tsáchila population boasted 30,000 people, but suffered a progressive reduction due to pox: a new disease brought from Europe. One of the most respected shaman of that time had a ceremony with nepi “ayuahuasca”, a hallucinogenic plant that has an important role in their culture, and envisioned that the way to stop this pox pandemic was to cover people´s bodies with the red ink that comes from achiote, this stopped the sickness and saved lives, and ever since the Tsáchila population has painted their heads with this red ink as a tribute to this plant.
Achiote, from the series Tenka Kirano 2013.
Tenka Kirano
According to many Tsáchilas legends some spirits and some animals have the power to transform themselves into human beings, a trick very often used to harm humans. In the past, shamans could similarly transform themselves into animals, a recurring feature of mythological stories. birds like the Yuru can take human forms and steal the identity of a weak Tsáchila. As Ventura (2012) explains, in the Tsáchila mythology, especially in the myths when people transforms to animals, it shows that the body is not an indicator that distinguishes humans from other creatures, or human against non-humans. Demonstrating a thought system that Philippe Descola (1986) describes, as being a “referent ”, which is to consider common to all creatures, is not the human as specie, but rather the humanity as a condition. Achiote, from the series Tenka Kirano 2013.
Tenka Kirano
The Womin, is an immaterial force inherent to humans, animal, vegetables or spirits. This force is what enables a fluid relation, sometimes draconian. But it enables a communication between humans, nature, and spirits. This force, according to Shuyun, the shaman of the village, is a skill inherent to any human but it is not always active and it is necessary to achieve a certain state of consciousness to be aware of it. There is also Tsabo Ayan, mother of the stars, to whom is attributed the origin of the tunan and manpe tsanpa, traditional ethnic outfits.
Mowim, from the series Tenka Kirano, 2013.
Tenka Kirano
According to the Shuyun legend, the Tsรกchila girls have to be careful when they see the rainbow because if they fall in love with it they will also become one and will only appear when there is rain and sun at the same time.
Shuyun, from the series Tenka Kirano, 2013.
How the project was born
The image of Ecuador is often portrayed as a natural wonder with jungles, mountains, waterfalls, etc. However, it is seldom understood that the population is increasingly urban, this has been one of the most dramatic and dislocating changes in Ecuador´s recent histoy, with more than three thirds of the population now living in cities. I belong to the percentage of the population; the only time when I was able to see the nature wonders of my country was when my family and I, used to go to Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, a semi tropical zone between the Andes and the Pacific Coast, to visit my uncle and his family that lived there cultivanting palm. I spent all my summers there until I became a teenager.
My inital reason for documenting the Tsáchilas was to understand what it meant to live permanently in what I perceived as a magical and significant place when I was a child. I remember thinking how fortunate the Tsachilas were to live in a place that I was only allowed to go once each year, so my happiest and more lucid memories from my childhood were built there, it was a place where I felt free becuase I could run around barefoot and I could swim in a waterfall looking at the monkeys and birds playing around freely, for me it was a big contrast with how I lived in the city. So when I went back last summer after many years, those memories started coming back and I felt I was rediscovering them in a more conscious way.
My country: Ecuador, is in a delicate moment, because the government, has just started oil drilling in one of the most biodiverse hot spots of the planet, after thousands of singnatures were collectd to ask for a referemdum to vote against the extraction and 87 percent of the citizens opposed, they still went ahead. This decision means, that at least two uncontacted tribes of this part of the Amazon, will have contact for the first time with the west, they will be the last addition in a list of indigenous communities in this country that are being moved from their way of living to adopt ours, in order for us to keep consuming . I feel that if us, the younger gen eration of Ecuadorians that are witnessing all these abuses that the first original inhabitants of this land are going through dont do anything, .
I couldn’t face trying to explain to my grandchildren why we didn’t do anything about it. I feel there is no more point anymore to go out to protest in the streets because we could easily g into what is happening in Venezuela at the moments, I think the best we can do is to use the skills we have and use them in a positive way.
Me, Sto Domingo de los Tsachilas 1993.
Tenka Kirano measuring results
• If I get the support to continue with this project I plan to move in with the Aguavil Family from 8 months to 10 months, to keep working in more depth dozens of other legends and traditions that are still untold, I will work not only with this family but with other 30 families and the school of the community.
open-air exhibition with the organization “ a cielo abierto” what they do is to exhibit pictures in public places to transcend the limitations of elite and exclusive art galleries that only certain people are allowed to enter, and specially because I want the work to reach different types of Ecuadorian audiences I need to find the easiest way to reach • I will develop a booklet with the my audience. It will be exhibited in the main cities of Ecuador: images and the explanation of each legend that will be handed Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, and to all Tsáchila kids and families. Sto Domingo (which is the closest city to where the live) • I have been already in contact with the Ministry of Culture and they are willing to support me with distribution and exhibitions of the projects, I plan to do an
Tenka Kirano tear measuring sheets results
•I would have an online platform where people can learn more about the Tsáchila culture through their mythology and system of thought.
Tenka Kirano tear measuring sheets results
Tenka Kirano tear measuring sheets results
Tenka Kirano tear measuring sheets results
Emilia Lloret Biography I was born in Ecuador, 1989. I received a degree in Communication and Photography from San Francisco University in Quito. Master in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism from London College of Communication. Exhibitions •2014. 12th Art Biennale, Ecuador. •2013. 31 ° Photographic exhibition in London College of Communication. •2012. LaSalle College of Arts, Singapore. Awards •2013. Excellence scholarship for the MA in LCC granted by the Ecuadorian Government. •2014. Paris Award in the 12th Art Biennale in Cuenca, Ecuador. I work with the artist Adrian Balseca documenting his performance about the visual representation of the oil extraction in Ecuador. •2014. Honourable mention in the Iberoamerican Architecture Biennale in Argentina. Thanks to a short film about the social contrast in Ecuador through backyards constructions.