Art Exhibition: “Initiatory Visions”
The CSWR is delighted to host an art exhibition featuring the work of a Peruvian artist and shaman Randy Chung Gonzales. The artwork will be on display through December 19, 2024. Please enjoy these samples from the exhibit, and be sure to visit the CSWR to see the full gallery.
Feminine spirit with connection to sacred plants
The travels of the “yakuruna” [water being], healer through water
A woman curandera [healer] with the spirit of the condor
The "madre" [mother/spirit] of the moon
Portal of the Sacred Forest [selva]
The spirit of the forest playing music for the moon
Spirit enchanting the moon with its melody
The sacred tree with the spirit of the eagle
The snakes’ dance
The guardian of the ayahuasca vine
Love ritual under the water
The tree that has been cut down continues to nourish life
The flight of the spirit
The messenger of the sun
Artist’s Statement
“My art changed dramatically in 2016 after I accompanied anthropologist Frédérique Apffel-Marglin to an ayahuasca ceremony led by a local shaman. Although I had no intention or desire to become a healer, I was transformed through initiation by spirits or discarnate beings, resulting in a surprising and intensive experience occurring over almost four years. During that time, my art changed from painting on canvas with colored oil paints to drawings on paper with a black felt-tip pen. It emerges from somewhere unbeknownst to me, coming directly from my fingers without first becoming conscious.”
About the Artist
Randy Chung Gonzales is the director of Asociación Centro Sachamama (ACS), a nonprofit dedicated to biocultural regeneration in Lamas, San Martin, Peru. Its sister organization, Sachamama Center for Biocultural Regeneration (SCBR), was founded in 2009 by anthropologist Frédérique Apffel-Marglin, PhD, and operates in Cambridge, MA. Chung Gonzales also directs Ampikuk, an ecological center in the forest just outside of Lamas, dedicated to the Vegetalista healing tradition. A self-trained architect and visual artist from Lamas, in the upper Amazon of Peru, he has exhibited his work in the Alliance Française in Trujillo, Peru; the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and at LIS, a Vegetalista healing center in Areal, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.