Elías Mamallacta

Elías Mamallacta is a Kitchwa painter from Ecuador who uses natural dyes extracted from achiote, turmeric, coal, ayahuasca and drago’s blood and ancestral techniques to make his art, which is inspired by nature in alignment with the Amazon rainforest and the ancestral knowledge of his community. In his work, each colour has its own meaning. Each of these meanings is firmly associated with events in the social life of the Amazon and the rituals that transform the subject matter of his paintings into something magical. He believes that painting can be a means of subsistence but prefers to think that it is more of a meaning of life, a reason to live. He has exhibited in Ecuador, the USA and Peru.