In the Valley of Spears Collection
This collection is a decolonized examination and honoring of the fierce resistance towards colonization that Tolima region tribes such as the Pijao and Panche led. The region was called the “Valley of Spears” due to the use of large spears by these groups as part of armed resistance. The Spanish colonizers labeled these groups evil, levied accusations of cannibalism (wikipedia still writes this as a truth), and used these accusations to manufacture consent to destroy them through warfare, burning leaders alive, and kidnapping women knowledge holders. A common tactic used in colonialism to justify horrific genocide.
This “The Valley of Spears” earring is an homage to the valley between the two Andean ridges that my ancestors have called home for eons.
The design has two main symbols, the mountain in the center that is shaped like a spear, the handle of the spear represents the river and the Magdalena River Valley that nourishes central Colombia. On the edges of the design are symbols that represent the fog that scarfs around the snowy mountain peaks in Tolima, and the river waters it eventually becomes.
Materials: Seed beads, 24k Gold plated beads, Gold filled hooks, Golden triangles
Photo by the awesome 308 NE team led by @el.imagen and @fmersha
In the Valley of Spears Collection
This collection is a decolonized examination and honoring of the fierce resistance towards colonization that Tolima region tribes such as the Pijao and Panche led. The region was called the “Valley of Spears” due to the use of large spears by these groups as part of armed resistance. The Spanish colonizers labeled these groups evil, levied accusations of cannibalism (wikipedia still writes this as a truth), and used these accusations to manufacture consent to destroy them through warfare, burning leaders alive, and kidnapping women knowledge holders. A common tactic used in colonialism to justify horrific genocide.
This “The Valley of Spears” earring is an homage to the valley between the two Andean ridges that my ancestors have called home for eons.
The design has two main symbols, the mountain in the center that is shaped like a spear, the handle of the spear represents the river and the Magdalena River Valley that nourishes central Colombia. On the edges of the design are symbols that represent the fog that scarfs around the snowy mountain peaks in Tolima, and the river waters it eventually becomes.
Materials: Seed beads, 24k Gold plated beads, Gold filled hooks, Golden triangles
Photo by the awesome 308 NE team led by @el.imagen and @fmersha
