Retablos Ayacuchanos – Peruvian Retablos

Retablos are a sophisticated Andean folk art in the form of portable boxes which depict religious, historical, or everyday events that are important to the Indigenous people of the Peruvian  highlands, specifically in Ayacucho (South Central Peru)

Retablos came to the new world as small portable altars, Nativity scenes and other religious topics used by the early priests to evangelize the Indigenous.

In a syncretic process, the early retablos brought by the Spanish merged with Indigenous beliefs in the Andean region to acquire certain magical or symbolic properties which had been the atributes of local spirits before the Conquest.

Artist frequently injects elements that remind us of his Andean heritage. For example, a Crucifix that has three coca leaves below the heart of Christ. This is to remind us that coca leaves (not cocaine) play an important role in Indigenous Andean cultures.

Later, retablos evolved to include daily scenes in the lives of the Andean people, such as harvests, processions, feasts, and tableaux depicting shops and homes.

In the 1940s more and more artists were using retablos as a vehicle for affirming and recording the distinct identity of the Indigenous people of the Andean region. They are also a defense of Indigenous culture and values in the face of the modernization and the penetration of their culture by that of the white Hispanic elites ofLima.

(Source: Wikipedia, photos: Google)