Who were, really, the Incas? exhibition attempts to answer a seemingly obvious question

Before mobilizing his conquest troops, the Inca he always sent his emissaries to the lordship to annex to the empire. In addition to offering the best fabrics to the local Lord, to seal his fidelity to the son of the Sun they offered him a toast with chicha, in two silver glasses, one in each hand. If he accepted the proposal, he would maintain his position, and should only report to the Cusco power. If he refused, the troops would arrive. And a new lord would toast with chicha served in the skull of the rebel lord. It was a very explicit message, an offer that could not be refused.

The exhibition “The Incas. Más allá de un imperio”, about to be inaugurated in five rooms of the Lima Art Museum, tells, among other things, the story of the toast with the Inca, based on studies by authorities such as Thomas Cummings, but also with the period objects that give account of those intimidating negotiations: Keros that reproduce toasts in their design, with a ghastly face shaped like a cup or the fabrics that pleased the obedient cacique. How many other stories can the other two hundred and fifty pieces that make up the ambitious exhibition tell us, including ceramics, metallurgy and paintings, many of them never before presented in public. Through these objects, narratives are generated that allow the public to understand that the culture of the Incas continues to the present.

Curated by Cecilia Pardo, Julio Rucabado and Ricardo Kusunoki, the exhibition tries to answer a seemingly obvious question: Who were the Incas? As Rucabado, MALI’s curator of pre-Hispanic art, points out, the answer is not so simple. It means critically reflecting on how we have always perceived them, as something alien. “The Incas have not left us portraits, as the Moche did. We know their architecture, their burial methods, their ceramics, their fabrics and many technologies that have survived up to now, but the image we have of them is the one that was formed from the colony, from the perspective of others”, explains the specialist.

And it is that the same term “Inca” or “inga” was coined in the chronicles written in the viceroyalty. These sources speak of “Cuzcos” to define this culture. As Rucabado explains, César Itier’s research suggests that the term “Inca” refers not to an ethnic group, but to a group of adult men, gathered for military purposes. Thus, it is from the intersection of multidisciplinary studies (archaeology, art history, anthropology or linguistics) that the exhibition can draw a complete panorama of four centuries of Andean history, projected to the present, thanks also to coordination with different museums. state, as well as private institutions and collectors.

gold is not

Another view with which the Incas are usually associated is as a territory of treasures and pieces of gold. However, as the MALI curator explains, this is the image that, precisely, the show wants to question. “What we seek is to offer the public the history of the Incas based on the testimonies of their art and culture. Also, there are very few metal objects. The looting after the invasion turned all the gold into coins taken on ships to the metropolis,” warns Rucabado. Although there are precious pieces that at the time were part of funerary ensembles (out of sight of the conquerors), the sample offers many other objects of great interest. For example, a set of metallic figures from Sacsayhuamán stand out, representing a rocoto, a chili pepper, a dragonfly and a tadpole on a natural scale, and which were part of the Inca offerings in sacred places. Another outstanding set is a notable collection of textiles, from unkus to llicllas, which allow us to appreciate a textile art made in the Inca and part of the colonial times.

The exhibition has five thematic axes, to tell us about the origin of the Tahuantinsuyo, the relationship of the Incas with the landscape and architecture, their survival in the colony, as well as their current legacy. A tour that shows how the great Inca state emerged and was consolidated, as well as the importance of its cultural legacy. “This exhibition is a very ambitious project, since before presenting it to the public it turns over decades of research, archaeological findings and rereadings of written sources. Mali’s greatest interest has been to be able to translate the Academy’s studies to make them accessible to the public”, adds the curator.