When I returned to Bolivia for the first time in 1969, I noticed that there were weavings everywhere. Some were handmade, old and rough and woven out of natural fibers using natural dyes. Others were hand-woven – some very fine using alpaca wool and some were woven in cotton, using modern dyes of bright pinks, greens, and blues. I was captivated by the variety of weavings and how the indigenous people used them. They wore them as ponchos and skirts. They folded them into cradles and placed them on their backs to carry their possessions or babies. At the outdoor market, called the “cancha,” the women put the weavings on the ground and sat on them along with their products to sell. I knew that weavings were more than just fabrics.
Weavings hold a special significance for the Andean cultures. In Europe, painting and sculpture are the highest artistic expressions of the culture, while in the indigenous Andean culture, textiles are the epitome of art. Although the Spanish conquerors tried to destroy Inca culture, Andean women have preserved the indigenous beliefs, rituals, and symbols for their people through the language of weaving. Andean weavings, particularly those of the Altiplano in Bolivia, are the voice of a culture that refuses to disappear. These weavings are the tangible expression of a worldview that is distinctly non-Western. By weaving both the traditional and the modern, my artistic and digital work is a homage to this precious, yet obdurate, cultural legacy.
In 1979, when I bought my first Apple II computer, I learned that computer graphics were based on a grid and that each point on that grid was a specific color, which is true for most weavings and fabrics from the 1970s. The resolution of the screen of the Apple II was about one-thousandth of the resolution of a computer, circa 2006. However, I had no problem adjusting to the low resolution because of my experience working with fiber and textile art. I saw the stair steps of the pixels on the screen like the stair steps of points on weaving or needlepoint.
