Lima to Cusco | July 2018 | Analogue photography

In July 2018, I participated in an interdisciplinary excursion organized by the Free University of Bolzano and PUCP Lima. We travelled between Lima and Cusco, experiencing Peruvian culture, hospitality, territory and political limits. Lima, Cusco, Pisac, Puquio, Ica, Huacacina desert, Abancay, Nazca, and Paracas were our main stops.

We addressed Peruvian history (from the Inca empire to Spanish colonization) and its effects on Peruvian culture and identity, as well as land use, mining, nature conservation and ecosystem restoration. I adopted an ethnographic approach and focused on indigenous culture and minorities, which will later shape my thesis topic. My most relevant experience was visiting the Shipibo community in Lima, where I discussed with Gabriel Senencina its people and culture.

"Gabriel Senencina is part of the Shipibo-Konibo community of Cantagallo, Lima. Around 2000 people (200-230 families) migrated from the Amazonian forest due to environmental changes, violent episodes connected with the trafficking of narcotics, and to receive and offer their children a better education.

Gabriel is a mural artist expressing the traditional visionary arts of his community, characterized by labyrinthine geometric designs, psychedelic colour combinations, representations of nature, the Cosmo and the sacred animals. These images are inspired by Ayahuasca visions, which broad use is a ground aspect of this culture.

Ayahuasca shamanism is a sacred practice whose purpose is to purify the spirit, the mind and the body. For this reason, they use the word "medicine" when referring to it.