Lloros de mi Argentina

This piece describes the transfer of ancestral knowledge and the necessity of ancient wisdom in times of social and environmental chaos, and decline.
The people illustrated are of Mapuche origin, Mapuche peoples inhabit both Argentina and Chile. Silver jewellery is very prominent in their attire.
Each animal, Puma, depicts the feminine and masculine energies. Inca knowledge believes the Puma to be the a divine animal representing power and strength and symbolic of Earth.
I was finally inspired by the destructive forest fires that have incinerated over 400,000 hectares of land in Argentina, 2020. Being of Argentinian origin, I felt very inclined to project my pains and sorrows with the intent to address my nations need to reflect, and on a global scale. constant ethnocide perpetrated against Indigenous peoples.

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Jael Buscema is an Argentinian folk artist, reclaiming stories and knowledge from pre and post-colonial Latin American history influenced by racial, socio and environmental burdens of colonisation, and the rebirth of ancestral knowledge that was once suppressed from Indigenous traditions. She applies realism and spirituality with portraits, nature, and symbolism that represents the ancestral connection that is formation of a story.