Tigua paintings
People around Tigua have painted drums and masks used at festivals for many generations, but it was not until the 1970s that they started to make paintings to sell. It all started when a foreigner was interested in buying an old drum from Julio Toaquiza, a young man from the area. He later got the idea to paint on flat canvases made by sheepskin. And as it turned out well he taught his relatives and neighbours how to paint as well.The Tigua paintings are very colourful and often painted on sheepskin. The motifs are scenes from different Quichua legends, festivals and religious ceremonies. It is also common with scenes depicting the daily life, like farming and weaving, of the people in the high Andes around Tigua. The condor, sheep or llamas are common animals in the paintings and in the surrounding landscape the Vulcan Cotopaxi can often be seen. When I hiked to Tigua, from Quilotoa, I...
