Onecho 

Mural Location: 2775 Valmont Boulder, CO 80304 (East-facing wall in the parking lot of Rayback Collective)

During Street Wise 2022, Onecho created this colorful mural that reflects his South American heritage and culture. The artist seeks to bring elements of Chibcha and Inca traditions into the colonized world to cultivate an understanding of ancestral knowledge and indigenous functions of art.

Onecho utilizes a variety of vibrant colors to create an abstract, geometric design. Gradient swathes of yellow, green, blue, and orange form the base of the mural. The artist layers a linear design on top of the gradients. The linear pattern has multiple cutouts to showcase the gradient colors underneath. This design specifically represents the mother of water and guardian of the forests. 

Kené art served as the inspiration for Onecho’s design. Kené encompasses a design system created and used by the Shipibo-Conibo people of the Amazon. Indigenous women in this region use this abstract system of lines and geometric patterns to cover a variety of surfaces, including fabrics, ceramics, wood, and the human body. This art is typically made by women and passed from mother to daughter. 

Deeply symbolic, kené art reflects the worldview of Indigenous Amazonians. Indigenous women both see and make kené, seeing kené during special rituals and making kené by materializing certain visions. While creating kené designs, the Indigenous craftswomen will follow the lines of the designs with their fingers while singing to express the emotions reflected in the design. The designs symbolize energy pathways, significant astronomical and geographical landmarks, and wildlife, among other things. Kené designs embody Indigenous knowledge, culture, history, and aesthetics as well as the close relationship between Indigenous communities and the land.

Additionally, Onecho’s use of bright colors and abstract gradients reflects various Indigenous cultures found along the Andes Mountains, namely in the countries of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The artist also took inspiration from large designs known as pintas that represent the energy structures of our world and elements of life.

About the Artist:

@onechoart

My intention as a painter and muralist is to create art that brings elements of The Chibcha and Inca traditions. I believe my work is a way to resist assimilation and a way to stay true and healthy in colonized territories. I think that in our industrialized civilization the palpable loss of connection with nature and ancestral wisdom has left our society in a state of imbalance and uncertainty. current geopolitical and historical situation is in need of indigenous views, bringing art that honors and is informed by it will not only cultivate novel aesthetics but also a growing understanding of ancestral knowledge and the functions of Art in our communities.