Neyra Pérez Rodríguez

Peru | Iskonawa Painted Textiles 

Neyra Pérez Rodríguez is an artist from the Iskonawa people, living in the Comunidad Nativa Callería in the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon. Her community is accessible only by river, several hours from the city of Pucallpa, and is shared by two peoples: the Shipibo-Konibo and the Iskonawa. For decades, the Iskonawa were widely believed to have disappeared as a distinct culture.

Neyra began embroidering at fourteen, learning from her mother, and later learned natural dye techniques from her mother-in-law. For many years, her work followed Shipibo-Konibo designs, which are well known in the region. In 2018, she participated in a project to document and recover Iskonawa designs that elders remembered. Until then, she had never seen them. That process changed her work entirely. Since then, she has dedicated her practice to painting and reviving Iskonawa visual language.

Her textiles are made on cotton cloth using dyes prepared from tree bark, plants, and river mud gathered from the surrounding forest and waterways. She works with species such as yakushapana, joshin pokoti, and mahogany, carefully and responsibly extracting color. Bark is taken in small amounts to allow trees to regenerate, and mud is collected only during the dry season, following river cycles known in the community. The dyes are fixed with river clay, allowing the textiles to be washed without losing color.

The designs Neyra paints come directly from Iskonawa history and territory. Motifs such as roebiri, which represent Cerro El Cono, refer to the ancestral lands her people were forced to leave after contact in 1959. Other designs reference hunting tools, animals, and ceremonial life. Traditionally, these designs were painted on bodies, tools, and ritual objects. Painting them onto cloth is a contemporary adaptation developed by Iskonawa women.

Neyra works from her home and does not employ other makers. Her art is her family’s primary source of income and supports her children’s education. She is now passing this knowledge to her daughters, who have begun learning the techniques at a young age.