all that goes into this / nokemake / por eso ese cuento coincide (2023)

Multichannel soundscape en 5.1. surround sound (29’49’’), table (wooden table, glass cage, Matsigenka textile, seeds, leaves, found objects, 140 x 75 x 50 cm), drawing (watercolor and archival ink on artisanal paper, 80 x 30 cm)

Stereo sound (29’49’’) available here: https://xapiriground.bandcamp.com/track/crafting-the-field-08-3

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Text by Melanie Dizon from Xapiri Ground:

We must consider that life is a listening experience. One can agree that in nature and amongst all Indigenous cultures, the act of listening is fundamental to their very livelihood- an instinctual, spiritual and participatory act. ‘Nokemake’ is the Matsigenka word to express that “I am hearing” or “I have heard,” and so we as listeners, to be able to experience this deep relationship (through sound) provides a necessary part of our fundamental understanding of what connects a people to a place - a veritable confluence of worlds.

For this CTF series #08, we invited sound artist Vered Engelhard to listen, share, and record the sonically charged landscape of the Matsigenka people in their community of Shipetiari located in the Manu Biosphere Reserve in the Peruvian Amazon. As artist Vered Engelhard comments: “...the necessity of understanding the different perspectives between humans and animals in simultaneity and coexistence…” is part and parcel of their creative methodology in working with sound. Through this composition, they intend to create a fluidity between the many participants who through their hands, eyes, voices, and ears guide us through their own listening and recording journey using the artist’s digital devices. We hope that this work will ignite you, within the silence of your own mind, to bear witness as we do to the natural and elemental richness that is endemic to the Matsigenka web of life today.