Chaccu Right Through You...
by Wasim Muklashy
Title
Chaccu Right Through You...
Artist
Wasim Muklashy
Medium
Photograph
Description
What you see here is the vicuna, and the group I was with, Quechua Benefit, who led this tour through the country, was extremely privileged and fortunate to be invited to participate in a chaccu. This is an event that stretches back millennia - a ceremony that was performed by the Incan Sun Gods.
The vicuna are a distant cousin of the alpaca, however, they are wild and cannot be domesticated. Because they have one of the finest fibers on earth, and certainly of the alpaca and camelids (a single jacket can go for upwards of 15k USD), until just a couple of decades ago, they were on the verge of extinction due to mass poaching. Thanks to a MASSIVELY successful conservation program that partnered the Peruvian government with indigenous local communities and a clothing brand that manufactures an exclusive vicuna line, the numbers of vicuna have returned in record numbers. Since they are unable to be domesticated, and because they are so highly revered in Peru (it is the animal on their flag), in order to sheer them for their fibers, the local populations and villages that populate the highlands participate in an elaborate ceremony and procedure in which they coral the vicuna from miles and miles around once a year in order to sheer them, and then release them.
This year, we got to be a part of it.
In fact, after capturing still and moving images of the opening prayer ceremony and the process of corralling them through the highlands, the had me get right into the middle of thousands of these delicate and beautiful animals as they hypnotically swirled around me in a circle while I filmed it all in 360 virtual reality video.
It was one of the most magical experiences of my life and I CANNOT WAIT to share that video with you. It's going to be a while before I get all that ready, but in the meantime, as I slowly, but surely, go through them, I'll begin to feed an image or two here and there from the weeks we spent down there.
First and foremost, a HUGE thank you to Quechua Benefit and to all the attendees and guides on this tour, who, by the end of it all, became family.
I'll never ever forget this one...
-
A Picotani, Peru zen moment byWasim.com
book 3.
season 3.
chapter 17.
Uploaded
November 17th, 2019
Embed
Share
Similar Images
Recently Viewed
