Paths of Memory, Paths of Healing: Shipibo - Konibo Kene Art

Paths of Memory, Paths of Healing: Shipibo-Konibo Kene Art invites visitors into the vibrant world of Shipibo-Konibo artist Olinda Silvano. Her intricate kené designs—flowing geometric patterns rooted in ancestral knowledge—are more than visual art: they are pathways of connection, memory, and healing. As Olinda paints, she sings, activating each line with sound and intention, transforming the space into an immersive sensory experience. We invite you to journey through the artist's mural, alongside ceramic and textile works from the Fowler Museum's collection, all featuring kené patterns. Together, these elements create a continuous path to explore—one that visitors can see, hear, and feel. Through this interplay of art and music, the exhibition offers an accessible and moving encounter with Indigenous creativity and the enduring power of healing through art. Olinda Silvano is a Shipibo-Konibo artist and cultural leader who lives and works in the Amazonian community of Cantagallo, in Lima. From this urban Indigenous community, she has built a powerful bridge between ancestral memory and contemporary artistic practice. Her work spans textiles, painting, and, most prominently, large-scale murals, through which she transforms kené—the sacred design system of the Shipibo-Konibo—into a monumental visual language.