Henry Ortiz Tapia

Born in 1986 in Lima, Peru. After graduating from the National School of Fine Arts of Peru, I myself became a lecturer there.
In the course of my activities as an artist, one of the most important moments in my personal growth was understanding that woven textiles are like a map or family tree recounting the history and memories that dwell in the country and region where I live. Although I have had opportunities to study painting, coexistence with the customs passed down from my ancestors has made me aware of things that change and things that stay the same, and of the numerous difficulties faced by Peruvian weaving, including the destruction of traditional customs, as well as making me recognize its possibilities and giving me options to explore ways of engaging with it. I want to provide a response that weaves together the many things passed down by the subaltern with more personal forms of expression.
I am in a position that permits the aesthetic to coexist with the technical, offering numerous possibilities for creation and exploration. In my work, I feel the need to expand the ways in which I express myself through various methods, whether painting, weaving, or arts and techniques closely linked to daily life, accepting them all individually and assimilating them into my intended rendering. The colonial period saw the suppression and eradication of many techniques and expressions that gave us a sense of the artistic. Because of this, I want to explore pre-Hispanic (dating from the period before Columbus reached the Americas), so that I can revive, translate, and reappraise techniques and cultures dating back to before the Spanish conquest.