Traditionally, Shipibo women wore wrap-around skirts, woven on a backstrap loom, and beads around their waists. In contrast to the rectilinear designs on the upper section of this skirt, its lower band is painted in curvilinear designs. All Shipibo designs mirror patterns found in nature—on animals, fish, or plants—and are derived ultimately from cosmological visions of murayá (shamans). The curvilinear designs on this skirt are said to be based on the patterns found on a boa constrictor’s back.

Infinity of Nations: Art and History in the Collections of the National Museum of the American Indian
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The National Museum of the American Indian  |  George Gustav Heye Center  |  New York, NY

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