Quipus 58 B

Nudos Que no son nudos Y nudos que sólo son Nudos Poet and visual artist Jorge Eielson was interested in exploring resonances between material, form, and communication. "Quipus 58 B" is from a series of paintings / constructions that feature knotted canvas inspired by Inca "quipus." Consisting of intricately knotted strings laced together, "quipus" conveyed to the Inca a wide range of information. Spanish colonization, however, eradicated the specialized knowledge required to interpret them. Eielson’s oversized and aestheticized knot evokes this loss of cultural memory while paying homage to Inca civilization. In the poem above Eielson wrote, “Knots / That are not knots / And knots that are only / Knots.”