For Shipibo people, art is an indissociable part of cosmovision, so by empowering art, the entire culture is empowered. Kene Nete works with young Shipibo women in urban contexts, normally students. We empower them to stay in school by making a living out of their art, through creative economy. By having a demand for Shipibo art, there's a need for youngs to look for and improve their techniques with the elders: that way culture can remain alive and women can conquer their economic independence.
We, at Kene Nete, as 3 indigenous women ourselves, understand that art is indissociable from indigenous culture as a whole. Our culture is embodied: we breathe it, we sing it, we paint it, we plant it. Therefore, by working with female young Shipibo artists, we want to empower an essential part of Shipibo cosmovision that can frequently be undervalued by power asymmetry in market relations, so as to provide economic independence to women. Right now we need your help paying our staff.
Our key is creative economy and our means are art, fashion, design and communication. Young female Shipibo artists who are in urban contexts cannot make a living out of their art for several inequality reasons. Kene Nete has a fairly equipped studio, and a safe female space where we can co-create and manufacture innovative and commercial products with Shipibo identity and political impact. What we need now is to be able to pay our 3 indigenous women staff a fair salary for 6 months.
While young female Shipibo artists may be in urban contexts (hopefully studying), there are elder women who remain in the territories and guard certain artistic techniques. By having a demand to produce art and rescue those techniques, there is an interchange that can be done to produce potent art in both contexts. Empowering indigenous women is our main goal since we are indigenous ourselves. We are also environmentally low-impact oriented, aiming to be as sustainable as possible each day.
