Johanna Patricia Rojas Echeverrt, Kay-Uku Pacha (STUDENT 2025)

Student:

Tertiary

Name of school or tertiary institution, name of woodworking teacher (if you have one), and name of photographer:

Waters & Acland

Video tour:

https://youtube.com/shorts/uk2W7k9DVEU?feature=share

Country

United Kingdom (Great Britain)

This bedside cabinet is inspired by the idea of decolonising from imposed beliefs. Indigenous people of the Andes had a strong relationship with nature and cosmology; they believed the underground nourishes the continuity of life in the upper world as they play a fundamental role to fertilise mother earth. The Underworld is peaceful and full of brightness. With colonisation the idea of underworld was distorted connected to darkness, due to imposed beliefs on matters of faith. For the Mochica Culture -Peru 1-800 ac- Kay Pacha translates as upper world and Uku Pacha as underworld, hence the name of my piece. As Natives used art to communicate and manifest the truths hidden in the forces and phenomena of nature and its powers and attributes, and being originally from South America, I want through this piece to reclaim the connection between the Upper and Underworld; the craved front represents the cyclical connection between above and below, as well as their interconnected forces . A bedside cabinet was chosen to connect it to that moment of unconsciousness where the mind is not living but neither dead. The style is influenced by Art Deco, elegant and functional, with use of geometrical symmetrical shapes and metallic elements. Carcase and handles are made in Sapele, full of interlocking grain making the wood look alive with its golden to reddish brown colour contrasting with the brass. Draws made in Ash; the texturised fronts invite to think of the unpredictability of everyday life holding the cycle of life. Opening draws gives access to upper world, playful and colourful with the different nuances of the known world. Opposite to the imposed belief, accessing underworld opens to calmness; represented by more consistent grain.

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