Kené: Lines of Healing, Paths of Connection

Kené: Lines of Healing, Paths of Connection invites visitors into the vibrant world of Shipibo-Konibo artist Olinda Silvano. Her intricate kené designs—flowing geometric patterns rooted in ancestral knowledge—are more than visual art: they are pathways of connection, memory, and healing. As Olinda paints, she sings, activating each line with sound and intention, transforming the space into an immersive sensory experience.

We invite you to journey through the artist’s mural, alongside ceramic and textile works from the Fowler Museum’s collection, all featuring kené patterns. Together, these elements create a continuous path to explore—one that visitors can see, hear, and feel. Through this interplay of art and music, the exhibition offers an accessible and moving encounter with Indigenous creativity and the enduring power of healing through art.

About the artist:

Olinda Silvano is a Shipibo-Konibo artist and cultural leader who lives and works in the Amazonian community of Cantagallo, in Lima. From this urban Indigenous community, she has built a powerful bridge between ancestral memory and contemporary artistic practice.

Her work spans textiles, painting, and, most prominently, large-scale murals, through which she transforms kené—the sacred design system of the Shipibo-Konibo—into a monumental visual language. Composed of intricate geometric patterns that embody songs of protection and healing, kené is, for Silvano, a living language that expresses and transmits the Shipibo-Konibo worldview.

Through her practice, these ancestral designs move beyond the body and traditional weaving, expanding onto walls, public spaces, and museum contexts in acts of cultural affirmation and resistance. Her work not only preserves but also reactivates Indigenous knowledge within contemporary global art dialogues.

In addition to her artistic practice, Silvano is a prominent leader, cultural manager, and advocate for Shipibo-Konibo culture. She previously served as president of the AYLLU association and as a representative of Andean and Amazonian women. She is currently a member of SOI NOMA, a Shipibo-Konibo research center and graphic arts workshop. She serves as president of the Association of Possession Holders of the Cantagallo Artisanal Industrial Park in Rímac (Achushicolm).

Silvano has participated in major contemporary art platforms, including the Montevideo Biennial (Uruguay, 2025), the Bienal de la Amazonía (2025), and ARCO Madrid (Spain, 2019 and 2025). Her work has also been featured in exhibitions such as Rivers Can Exist Without Water, But Not Without Shores (Museum of Contemporary Art, Lima, 2022), and Mother Plants and Fighting Women: Visions from Cantagallo (MAC Lima, 2022), where she also served as co-curator. Earlier, she participated in The Seeds of the Gods: Entheogenic Art of the Peruvian Amazon (Casa Perú, Russia, 2018).

In recognition of her cultural contributions, Silvano was named a Meritorious Personality of Culture by the Ministry of Culture of Peru in 2018. She has also received distinctions from the Congress of the Republic and the National University of San Marcos.

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