The term kené, or kene, refers to the traditional designs painted by women and men on ceramics, textiles, wooden surfaces, and bodies of the

Shipibo-Conibo The Shipibo-Conibo are an indigenous people along the Ucayali River in the Amazon rainforest in Peru. Formerly two groups, they eventually became one tribe through intermarriage and communal rituals and are currently known as the Shipibo-Conib ...

people from the central Amazon of Peru.Brabec de Mori y Mori Silvano (2009): 112. Kené designs are composed of geometric patterns that express the Shipibo worldview and spirituality, which tends to seek beauty and balance of the self in relation to the natural environment. When the design is embroidered on a textile, it is called kewé. On April 16, 2008, they were declared part of the Cultural Heritage of the Nation in Peru.

Origin

In the Shipibo-Conibo language, the term ''jakon nete'' (composed of the words ''jakon'' 'good' and ''nete'' 'world') refers to the spiritual world of traditional Shipibo medicine. This term can be translated as the "good world" or "the land without evil". When the Shipibo visionary healer (''meraya'' or ''onanya'') establishes a deep connection with the ''jakon nete'', this link is called ''kano''. The designs generated in the imagination from this deep link with the ''jakon nete'' are called ''kene''. A good part of the designs are inspired by dreams, visions of ayahuasca, diets with master plants and nature itself. There are plants called piripiri whose extracts are applied to the eyes and navel of the young Shipibo that gives knowledge of kené designs for healing. Many plants and animals present kené: the main one is the

anaconda Anacondas or water boas are a group of large boas of the genus ''Eunectes''. They are a semiaquatic group of snakes found in tropical South America. Three to five extant and one extinct species are currently recognized, including one of the l ...

(''rono ewa'', ''ronin''), considered the mother of designs. The ''ipo kené'' plant ('' Fittonia albivenis'') and the ''ipo'' fish have kené on the leaves and on the head, respectively.

Cultural significance

The kené designs are part of the

cultural identity Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity (social science), identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, Locality (settlement), locality, gender, o ...

and are markers of the ethnic identity of the Shipibo-Conibo people. These designs are painted on the body (face), wooden utensils (oars, pipes, maces), textiles (skirts, shirts ) and ceramics. Traditionally it is women who transfer the designs on ceramics, textiles and the body, while men carve the designs on wooden utensils. When they are embroidered on textiles they are called kewé.

Contemporary uses

Beyond the painting of the kené on wood, textiles and ceramics, Shipibo women, considered artists in modern times, also paint them on public murals in urban environments as a form of cultural resistance. Likewise, many national and foreign tourists buy textiles with kené designs for decorative purposes in their homes. Many tourists and anthropologists interpret kené as representations of visions during psychedelic experiences. Bernd Brabec de Mori and Laida Mori Silvano de Brabec state that the designs predate the use of the ayahuasca by the Shipibo people.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Cite book , last=Lauriout , first=Erwin , last2=Day , first2=Dwight , last3=Loriot , first3=James , date=1993 , title=Diccionario Shipibo-Castellano , url=http://repositorio.cultura.gob.pe/handle/CULTURA/443 , publisher=Ministerio de Cultura Peruvian design Shipibo-Conibo Cultural heritage of Peru

Origin

Cultural significance

Contemporary uses

See also

References

Bibliography