Un llamado
By: Sharon Castellanos
Tags: Peru, Photography, Stories, Generation Y, Photos

by Sharon Castellanos for the 2018 Joop Swart Masterclass

This project focuses on diverse profiles of young people (Generation Y) who come from other cities and countries to the Cusco region of Southern Peru and their socio-cultural-spiritual explorations, their reception and appropriation of the local ancestral culture, the Andean worldview and the conception of Pachamama (Mother Earth).

Most of them don’t arrive with this specific search in mind. It’s something that was activated and developed upon experiencing the place. In the beginning, their reasons to come might be to volunteer or do social work, for education exchange, travel or just plain tourism. Along the path, the perspective changes and the sensitivity to the spiritual call emerges.

Wall inside the bio construction house of Hernan Heredia (Lamay, Cusco, Peru).

Cusco, “navel of the world” in Quechua, was the capital of the Inca Empire and its legacy has survived despite the conquest by the Spanish. Nowadays, Cusco receives thousands of people each day from around the world from tourism. It’s a cosmopolitan space with a characteristic architecture mixed between Inca and colonial style, surrounded by mountains that are considered sacred, where the practice of ancestral culture is still alive.

For many people, Cusco is perceived as a space for contemplation and a platform where young people can easily get involved in mysticism and syncretism.

(1) Zoe Carlson (Chicago, USA) walks around Cusilluchayoc, Temple of the monkeys, an important archaeological site considered a sacred place in Cusco city. (2) Matthew Block (Boston, USA) throws a “Kintu”, a group of three coca leaves which represent the three worlds according to Andean worldview. It’s composed to make an offering during rituals, get blessings, protection, ask for permissions.

Hernan Heredia turns on the rocket stove that he hand-built inside his bio construction house in Huchuy Qosqo, a peasant community located in Lamay (Cusco, Peru).

Hernan Heredia (36) was born and raised in Buenos Aires (Argentina) where he used to work in an advertising agency. He left his hometown six years ago, and he went travelling through Bolivia and Peru. In 2016, he moved to Huchuy Qosqo, a peasant community where he constantly searches for low-cost and creative organic living solutions—for example greywater reuse, sawdust toilets, solar showers, organic gardens, etc. Everything is made with recycled materials and native clay, sand and rock from the area. Besides bio-construction and permaculture, he also works as a graphic designer, photographer and videographer.

He says he feels a strong connection with the Andes because of the geography and local culture which is still alive after 500 years.

Zoe Carlson smokes mapacho inside Cusilluchayoc, Temple of the monkeys, an important archaeological site considered a sacred place in Cusco city. Mapacho is an organic tobacco and it may be blown as a form of cleansing. It’s usually present as part of traditional ceremonies in the Andes and the Amazon.

Zoe Carlson (25) was born in Evanston, Illinois, and she grew up in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Then she moved to New York to study art history. She came to Calca (Cusco) for the first time in July 2017 to learn about art knit, symbology and the principles of the Andean worldview. She returned to Cusco to participate as a volunteer in a textile center and learn more about indigenous knowledge. She then lived in “Healing house,” a spiritual community.

In her opinion, many foreign young people could prefer to live in Cusco because it’s a place where there’s a big spiritual community and the local people are open to sharing information about the culture. She also thinks some people could have deep questions about life or they may be facing the “quarter-life crisis”. In that sense, Cusco could represent a space to discover themselves, a kind of freedom, an exploration… She says, she finds another way to live and she feels a shared and a welcoming energy.

She has stayed eight months in Cusco.

(1) Light and white energy. A cleansing stone from Matthew Block’s altar. (2) Kambó Ceremony burn scars where frog poison is applied for a healthy cleansing detox. (3) Andean symbology. Zoe Carlson’s one-week tattoo.

Crossing the Pongo de Mainique, an important sacred canyon for the Machiguenga native community.

Matthew Block (28) also known as Campesino Mateo (rural farmer Mateo) was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Before Cusco, he studied economics and international business, and worked on over 20 organic farms and permaculture sites in the US. Since he arrived in 2014 to Quillabamba, on the jungle side of Cusco, he has lived and worked on many family farms learning how to cultivate coffee, cacao (chocolate), and other plants. He has gotten involved in the practice of Pachamama offering ceremonies and he has learned some Quechua vocabulary (traditional language of the Incas) as well. Currently, he manages his own company and supports the organic agriculture in the region.

From his perspective, nowhere is the spirit, beauty and authenticity of traditional cultures reflected more strongly than on the land, in direct contact with Pachamama (Mother Earth).

He has stayed four years in Cusco.