Nazca (Patreon)

The Nazca (Nasca) culture flourished (1~800 AD) in the coastal desert of Southern Peru. While they are best renowned for their iconic 'Nasca Lines,' they also left an extremely rich and diverse artworks, including pottery and textiles.

This drawing is inspired by the female statues of the Late Nasca period, around the 6th to 8th centuries. These effigies depict a nude woman with a voluptuous lower body, which is often decorated with black tattoos on the genital area and buttocks. Tattooing is well documented for pre-Columbian Peru and is still practiced by several South American—especially Amazonian—tribes today.

Studies are divided on how to interpret these figurines. Some argue that they are supernatural beings, particularly the moon goddess. On the other hand, some insists that they depict actual humans who performed ritual functions. What is certain is that the motifs used on their body are predominantly related to fertility: the moon, scepter, lightning bolt, marine fauna, crops such as fruit and maize, mythical beings, trophy head, and penis.

The textile on the floor is based on the wool cloak from the early Nazca period.

Sources

· A camelid wool cloak with colored step triangles, 200 BCE~50 CE, Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú

· Nasca Female statute, The Regional Museum Ica Adolfo Bermúdez Jenkins, Peru

· María Rostworowski, María del Carmen Ramos, Pilar Ortiz de Zevallos, Los genitales femeninos en la iconografia andina prehispanica, Revista Psicoanálisis No. 3, 2003

· Alexandra Morgan, The Pottery Figurines of Pre-Columbian Peru: The Figurines of the South Coast, the Highlands and the Selva, Volume III, BAR International Series, 2012

· Federico Kauffmann-Doig, Sexual Magic in Ancient Peru: An Academic Analysis, 2015

· Bat-ami Artzi, The Shape of the Divine: the Three-Dimensional Representation of Nasca Feminine Supernaturality, Baessler-Archiv, Band 66, 2020