Elvira Espejo Ayca

Elvira Espejo Ayca

Elvira Espejo Ayca is a visual artist, weaver, and narrator of the oral traditions of her home province of Avaroa, Oruro (Qaqachaka ayllu–community). Espejo Ayca is an Aymara and Quechua speaker and the director of the National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore (MUSEF) in La Paz, Bolivia. She is the author of numerous publications, including: Sawutuq parla (2006), Kaypi Jaqhaypi /Por aquí, por allá (2018), and the poetry collection Phaqar kirki–t’ikha takiy–Canto a las Flores (2006), for which she received the “International Poet” award at the 4th World Festival of Venezuelan Poetry (2007). Espejo Ayca is also the co-author of numerous books, including: Hilos sueltos: Los Andes desde el textil (2007), Ciencia de las Mujeres (2010), Ciencia de Tejer en los Andes: Estructuras y técnicas de faz de urdimbre (2012), El Textil Tridimensional: El Tejido como Objeto y como Sujeto (2013) and Tejiendo la vida: La Colección Textil del Museo Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore, según la cadena de producción (2013). In collaboration with the Bolivian musician Álvaro Montenegro, she has released three contemporary music records: Thakhi – La Senda Canciones a los animales (2007), Utachk kirki - Canto a las casas (2011), and Sami kirki – canto a los alientos sagrados (2018). Espejo Ayca has won a number of national and international awards for her work, including first prize for “Indigenous Textile Art” (“Eduardo Avaroa en Artes, Especialidad Textiles Originarios, La Paz Bolivia”, 2013) and first prize for the promotion and creation of indigenous language literature in the category of poetry at the V Festival of South Andean Art, Barroca Chile (2018). On August 28, 2020, Elvira Espejo Ayca was awarded the Goethe Medal by the Federal Republic of Germany for her valuable work in cultural mediation between Latin America and Europe and between her own indigenous traditions and other cultures.

Extras:“Phaxsi Sami” (Breath of the Moon), track from Elvira Espejo Ayca’s album Sami Kirki: A los alientos sagrados, Sonares Comunes, Vol. 3, 2018.

Interview with Espejo Ayca by the German public, international broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

“Kunatchay parlasta” track from Elvira Espejo Ayca and Álvaro Montenegro’s álbum Cantos a las Casas/Utachk kirki, proyecto Sonares Comunes. vol. 2, 2011.

“Ay Qincha Luritu”, track from Elvira Espejo Ayca and Álvaro Montenegro’s álbum Cantos a las Casas/Utachk kirki, proyecto Sonares Comunes. vol. 2, 2011

“Siw Siw Inkay” (“Dice y dice Incay”), track from Elvira Espejo Ayca and Álvaro Montenegro’s álbum Cantos a las Casas/Utachk kirki, proyecto Sonares Comunes. vol. 2, 2011.

Elvira Espejo Ayca - Sami Kirki: A los alientos sagrados, Sonares Comunes, Vol. 3 (2018, Album)