“The City of Sillar” is not only a tourist destination, but my maternal homeland. Arequipa has three primary mountains, The Misti, The Chachani and The Pichu Pichu. The white city of Arequipa was built brick by brick out of its Chachani & Misti Mountain’s own volcanic rock, known as Sillar. From the Spanish colonial churches to the simple homes in the barrios, hand carved sillar bricks have created the spaces in which the Arequipa’s citizens live, dream, pray, and on which they walk. These bricks have a layered history. A brick of sillar once part of a cathedral tower now exists as part of a family’s rebuilt home. Worn down sillar from broken buildings is cleaned and reshaped to build new homes in the countrysides like Sabandia of Arequipa. While I have visited Arequipa multiple times as a child, a recent trip in October of 2010 inspired this current series of work.
“The City of Sillar” is not only a tourist destination, but my maternal homeland. Arequipa has three primary mountains, The Misti, The Chachani and The Pichu Pichu. The white city of Arequipa was built brick by brick out of its Chachani & Misti Mountain’s own volcanic rock, known as Sillar. From the Spanish colonial churches to the simple homes in the barrios, hand carved sillar bricks have created the spaces in which the Arequipa’s citizens live, dream, pray, and on which they walk. These bricks have a layered history. A brick of sillar once part of a cathedral tower now exists as part of a family’s rebuilt home. Worn down sillar from broken buildings is cleaned and reshaped to build new homes in the countrysides like Sabandia of Arequipa. While I have visited Arequipa multiple times as a child, a recent trip in October of 2010 inspired this current series of work.
