Felipe Coaquira, winner of the BCRP National Painting Contest, explains his technique and inspiration

In 2021, just when the 20th anniversary of the declaration of the Viringo dog as Cultural Heritage of the Nation, Felipe Coaquira Charca (Arequipa, 1978) had almost a revelation. This is how the winner of the XIII National Painting Contest of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP): “When I went to look for a suitable canvas for the elaboration of my work, after a long time I found one of a whitish color and not very thick, which was sold to me by a lady in a hurry. I bought it and noticed that it had a stain like purple chicha. When I tried to get the stain out, I couldn’t; so I cut it and after a few days I saw that the canvas had the figure of a puppy”. By then, Coaquira had already defined the characters in his work in sketches, but he felt something was missing. The answer was there, on the stained cloth.

The result of that work was his award-winning “Historias de sonata en el reino viringo” -which today is part of the collection of the Central Museum of the BCRP-, a piece that combines the technique of embroidery with threads, something of the Arequipa heritage of the area of Colca and costumbrist prints, inspired by the watercolors that Martínez Compañón had made or that Pancho Fierro painted.

Coaquira lived in Chile for almost 15 years, and there she participated in a Mapuche textile elaboration course, a native people of the southern zone of Chile. He says that this experience sparked his interest in embroidery. “Sometimes people see textile art as something minor, but that’s not the case because it integrates many disciplines into one,” says this artist, who confesses to having reconnected with his genetic pattern, since he grew up watching his grandmother turning the spindle and his mother sewing.

Long live the queen

In Coaquira’s work, the threads are the plot that is juxtaposed to the color; the artist had to assemble and disassemble his piece and take it from the frame to the sewing machine to capture each character.

A couple at the christening of a Peruvian hairless dog; a Viringo nobleman enters on horseback; four musicians interpret a sonata, while another seems to sing to his ñusta; the coya communicates through a poster with the Spanish conquistador; archangels, symbolic texao flowers and a fundamental detail: on the left side, the Viringo seated on the throne is not male but female. It is the way in which Coaquira pays homage to women, to the revaluation of her professionally, to the pioneers of contemporary textile art, such as the German designer Anni Albers (1899-1994). “She studied at the Bauhaus and wanted to take painting courses, but because she was a woman, they sent her to knit,” she says.

As part of the award, the BCRP prepares for 2023 an exhibition with the work of Coaquira. The artist has already set to work: “From the imprint of fiber and textile work, I will make a series of pieces on identity issues. Unknown myths and oral histories, which do not have defined sources, not only about Arequipa, but also from different parts of Peru”.