Bolivia
Black & Sand
Sand-coloured animal figures, birds and zigzag lines spread densely across a black ground.
Country world · 6 models
Bolivia
Tarabuco and Jalq’a – two visual worlds
The Bolivian world brings together two distinct weaving traditions from the region around Sucre, chosen by the founder as references: Tarabuco and Jalq’a. Both are woven on the vertical loom – and yet they look fundamentally different.
Models from Bolivia
Technique
Pallay on the vertical loom
Both Tarabuco and Jalq’a weavers work on the vertical loom, which is of pre-Columbian origin. According to Fundación ASUR, the patterned fields – the pallay – are not copied from a model but come from the weavers’ own knowledge.
Background
The tradition
Around Sucre live communities whose textiles can be told apart at first glance. Fundación ASUR works with weavers in the region and runs the Museo de Arte Indígena in Sucre. Its descriptions show how differently two neighbouring cultures think with the same tool.
Tarabuco brings order. Designs sit on an elongated rectangle, symmetrical and divided into bands. Most striking today are the figurative motifs: horses, llamas, birds, people, whole scenes.
Jalq’a lets go. A single continuous field, no symmetry, no organising axis – the figures fill the space, as ASUR puts it, “chaotically”. At the centre are the khurus, real and imaginary animals, which ASUR links to the world of the saxra, a dark place of the depths.
For Fabi, who has Bolivian roots, this world is a personal one. That does not imply a collaboration with any particular weaving community – if one is established, it will be named here explicitly.
Two traditions compared
| Tarabuco | Jalq’a | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | Communities around the town of Tarabuco, east and south-east of Sucre (Zudáñez province, Chuquisaca) | On both sides of the border between Chayanta province (Potosí) and Oropeza province (Chuquisaca), west and north-west of Sucre |
| Composition | Symmetry, order and division into bands | One continuous field with no axis of symmetry; figures fill the space freely |
| Figures | Horses, llamas, birds, people and scenes; abstract forms as traces of older aqsu styles | Khurus – real and imaginary animals, “untamed” creatures |
| Fibres according to ASUR | Sheep’s wool and cotton | Sheep and alpaca wool |
These details describe the traditions, not LÁAK products. Source: Fundación ASUR.
Translation
What the designs make of it
The six visualisations show animal figures, framed fields and continuous motifs on the textile insert. Which visualisation follows which of the two traditions is still being checked against the textile references – until then, we deliberately do not assign individual models.
Models from Bolivia
Bolivia
Yellow & Midnight
Framed fields of yellow and midnight blue with stylised figures and plants, edged with red and white stripes.
Bolivia
Yellow & Red
Birds and animal figures in red and green on bright yellow, divided into separate fields.
Bolivia
Midnight & Cream
Cream animals and figures on a midnight-blue ground, framed above and below by twisted lines.
Bolivia
Midnight Wave
A continuous white wave motif on midnight blue, edged with red and green lines and a row of dots.
