Guapy Jeka
2019
17” l x 16” w
embroidery floss, tapioca starch
Ñandutí is a traditional indigenous Paraguayan/Guaraní embroidered lace. The pattern in the center is formally known as “buey pupore”, which is Guaraní for oxen hoof print. However, it is colloquially known as “guapy jeka”, which is Guaraní for squatting down (to allude to a person with a vulva squatting down in a river to wash their genitalia). Guarani lacemakers kept this alternative name as an inside joke and sold these lace pieces to Spanish colonizers.
