La Wayaka Current

Quimaria

During my La Wayaka residency, I brought the feminine energy I often work with into a new medium. While I usually work with water-based oils, I’ve revisited an earlier chapter of my own life—my years in fashion design before turning to visual arts—and gone even further back, across generations of women in my family, where working with yarn and embroidery was a female domain. Because of this history, textile-based media have not traditionally held the same status in the art world—something I, as a feminist artist, wish to challenge.

This piece was created entirely by hand using only a regular needle and a crochet hook with llama wool from Chile. The image reflects my encounter with the raw landscape of the Atacama Desert—first its layered horizons, then the towering mountains and volcanoes. I was especially drawn to the different levels of the horizon and their soft, feminine lines, which I embraced in this work.

The legend of Quimal and the two princes struck me because it reminded me of a similar story from my hometown in Denmark, where a woman must choose between two men. With both humility toward these old legends and a touch of 2023 irony, I can’t help but reflect on why encounters between the masculine and the feminine still so often end in tragedy. More than anything, I wanted to incorporate Quimal and her prince as a reminder of inner balance and authenticity—especially in this time of global paradigm shift, where patriarchs across the world are slowly being unseated.

I’ve played with both the inner and outer processes of the masculine–feminine balance using different yarn textures and weights, with the intention of showing how beautiful even the most tangled, inward journey can be—when seen with perspective.

The Legend of Quimal (Chile)

Every afternoon, the young prince Licancabur would visit the great Salar. On the far side, beyond the uninhabited mountain range now known as Domeyko, he watched the sun set into the sea. Among the descendants of the ancient mountains was the beautiful Quimal.

After many shared sunsets, Quimal and Licancabur fell deeply in love. All was well until another prince, Lascar, encountered the captivating Quimal. The desired princess admitted her heart belonged to Licancabur. Furious at her confession, Lascar cried: If I can’t have you, no one will! Determined, he went after Licancabur.

The great mountains decided to intervene and punish them all. You, princess, for creating division between two brothers, shall be banished to the barren Domeyko range. You, Lascar, will forever fume with rage and confusion. And you, young Licancabur, will always see Quimal ahead of you—but never be able to reach her.

The Legend of Maria (Denmark)

An old tale tells of two brave knights, Hem and Sem, who fought a duel in spring for the love of the beautiful maiden Maria. Fate was cruel: both knights perished. In despair, Maria drowned herself in the fjord. Her vast estate was given to a monastery, and the place where she met her end was named Maria’s Field (Marias Ager). A spring still flows from the ground where her sorrowful tears for her suitors once fell.