K’acha willaykuna: mensajes con belleza

Abstract

In Quechua, k’acha willaykuna means “messages with beauty.” Cultural practices of producing messages with beauty through art and performance date back to pre-colonial times and are profoundly connected to indigenous memory and wisdom. In contemporary context, k’acha willaykuna generally translates as “art.” Nonetheless, the reference to messages with attention to aesthetic detail signals that, in the absence of written language and beyond their artistic representation, these forms of expression have functioned as modes of documenting, in their capacity as “literatures” and historiographies, the experiences of indigenous people. In this article, I argue that these forms of traditional supra-linguistic expression should be included in our assessment of indigenous literatures. I share research experiences combining Andean and Amazonian concepts and aesthetics with digital technologies in virtual reality.