Otorongo

<p>This jaguar, or <em>otorongo</em> in Quechua, was created as part of Vasquez Yui’s series <em>The Council of the Mother Spirits of the Animals</em>, which advanced a spiritual understanding of ecology. The feline confronts our human gaze, as if acknowledging the devastating losses of habitat in the Amazon Jungle. The cat’s spotted fur is elaborately rendered in finely incised and painted patterns called <em>kené</em>. These designs represent worldviews and energy pathways and can be evoked in song to promote healing.</p>