Sunday, August 17, 2008

Shrine at Porvenir


Photo taken in 2003 by Margaret Brown Vega. Modern shrine made at the base of a Preceramic (ca. 3000 B.C.) mound at the archaeological site of Porvenir, in the Fortaleza Valley, Peru. Crania from a Late Intermediate Period (ca. A.D. 1000-1470) burial ground intruding into the preceramic site are gathered, along with pottery and other remains, and assembled. Dried coca leaves were left inside a heart-shaped tin and scattered over the assemblage. Activities at the shrine employed coca leaves, and alcohol, as evidenced by empty or partially-filled liquor bottles left behind. Hair from the once fresh crania lies scattered among the skulls, and pools of now-cooled candle wax blanket parts of the shrine.


Anthropomorphic black candle, slightly melted, placed among the items of the shrine. The candle has been pierced twice in the torso.

Plastic toy soldier placed in the shrine. Remains of a burned white candle drip down from above.


An image of a woman, burned, placed next to the heart-shaped tin. Upon further inspection I realized this was not a photograph, but a page from a magazine. The dark area to the right of the photo is black from exposure to fire.
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1 comment:

n8craig said...

Margaret, this is a marvelous manifestation of multivocal materiality.