Culture

Carnival: a word with endless meanings

08 Aug, 2023 | Olivia Millard

Home to 36 Indigenous cultures and their respective languages, the bridging of worlds is at the heart of Bolivian national identity. Cross-cultural relations have been a topic of national interest for...

THE CHURCH OF AYAHUASCA / LA IGLESIA DEL AYAHUASCA

30 Jun, 2021 | Valeria Wilde

Illustration: Marco TóxicoENGLISH VERSIONFor Andean and Amazonian indigenous cultures in Bolivia, hallucinogenic plants are synonymous  to medicine, spirituality and even religion. Ever since anc...

PALO SANTO

30 Jun, 2021 | Sophie Hogan

ENGLISH VERSIONThe miracle tree and its usesThe smell seeps easily into my nostrils as we light the wood and put it in the holder. The smoke begins to flurry out of the holes in the cup and the fragra...

‘Apacheta Nº8’

30 Jun, 2021 | Curated by: Marisabel Villagomez

ENGLISH VERSION by Max Siñani: Making the invisible visibleConnections are rarely established anymore. They are scarce, like those mysteries in which the invisible emerges from other dimensions. They...

OLD MARKET, NEW MEDICINE / VIEJO MERCADO, NUEVA MEDICINA

30 Jun, 2021 | Toby Clyde

ENGLISH VERSION The name, El Mercado de las Brujas or the Witches Market, does little to accurately describe the bustling medicine and ritual trade just off Plaza San Francisco. In reality, the m...

DARK GODS, DARK RITES / DIOS OSCURO, RITOS OSCUROS

30 Jun, 2021 | Alex Walker

Photo: Iván RodríguezSubtitle: WHEN UKRAINIAN MODEL AND BARBIE DOPPELGÄNGER VALERIA LUKYANOVA PROCLAIMED HERSELF TO BE A REINCARNATION OF THE TIWANAKAN GOD WIRACOCHA, LITTLE DID SHE KNOW THAT SHE WAS...

IN THE ARMS OF THE MOON GODDESS / EN LOS BRAZOS DE LA DIOSA DE LA LUNA

30 Jun, 2021 | Nikolaus Hochstein Cox

ENGLISH VERSIONThe elderly Aymaran woman runs about the circle with almost supernatural vigour, touching each of our bowed heads with the wrapped sacrifice. She whispers a breathless incantation, and...

REHEARSING WITH THE KORY WARMIS / ENSAYANDO CON LAS KORY WARMIS

30 Apr, 2021 | Marianthi Baklava

ENGLISH VERSIONWomen meet to create theatrical art – and to empower themselves‘Get ready, you’re going to be backed against that wall once everyone gets here,’ Erika Andia warns me. Upon arriving at C...

BOLIVIA’S POWERFUL CHOLITAS / LAS PODEROSAS CHOLITAS BOLIVIANAS

30 Apr, 2021 | Catalina Ugalde

Photos: Catalina UgaldeENGLISH VERSIONCholitas are indigenous Quechua-Aymara women who are identifiable because of the traditional Bolivian pollera skirts they wear. These women are the face of resili...

THE CATACOMBS OF POTOSÍ / LAS CATACUMBAS DE POTOSÍ

30 Apr, 2021 | Catriona Fraser

Photos: Catriona Fraser and Nick FerrisENGLISH VERSIONA look at the past to serve the futureIt is the 1990s, and the roof of San Agustín church groans a final breath of life before surrendering to the...

Decolonising Music / La descolonización de la música

29 Nov, 2020 | Juan Andrés Palacios

Image: Yasser Kim KerriganTranslation: Daniel SilesENGLISH VERSIONOn the first Spanish translation of Rameau’s ‘Treatise on Harmony’, on the context of the text’s publication in Spanish speaking count...

The Bolivianita Gemstone / Bolivianita

29 Aug, 2020 | Sofía Diez De Medina

Photos: Robert Weldon / GIA, cortesía de Minerales y Metales del Oriente, Bolivia, SA. ( https://www.gia.edu/ametrine-description)ENGLISH VERSION“All Bolivians should admire this marvellous gemst...

El Museo de Arte Antonio Paredes Candia

31 Mar, 2020 | Abby Thayananthan and Anneli Aliaga

El Alto’s Cultural Hub of Art and Literature Images: "Poserismo" by Iván Cáceres - Courtesy of: Carlos Villagómez, Max Siñani, Vlady Fernández Antonio Paredes Candia, or affectionately known...

‘TU CINE, TU IDENTIDAD’

29 Apr, 2020 | Anneli Aliaga

How to celebrate Bolivian cinema when you are stuck at home in quarantine Images: Bolivia CineOn 20 January 2020, months before national lockdown and worldwide quarantine hit the country, Boliv...

Bolivia’s Powerful Cholitas

29 Apr, 2020 | Catalina Ugalde

Cholitas are indigenous Quechua-Aymara women who are identifiable because of the traditional Bolivian pollera skirts they wear. These women are the face of resilience. In many cases, unsupported, u...