A spectacle bear sitting by the sun light, as weaved by Maria Victoria Chicunque.
In Kamëntŝa culture, the bear usually stands for generous spirit and ingenuity; being these animals recurrent protagonists of stories and myths and represented in multiple ways, such as in this labor (weaved pictogram).
MV June 2021
The Os (bear in Kämentsa) here forms part of a tšombiach (traditional Kamëntŝa patterned sash) that has been weaved using a guanga (andean vertical loom) on June 2021 by Maria Victoria Chiqunque. She belongs to a long tradition of Andean women weaving masters that have weaved patterned sashes like this for centuries, documenting stories and knowledge about their territory in multidimensional ways. Spectacled bears used to room plenty in Tabanoc (ancestral territory, place of origin). They are no longer common sights in the surroundings due to habitat loss, but they continue to feature in stories and therefore in tšombiachs.
The Os is the only surviving species of bear native to South America. Unfortunately as little as 5% of its original habitat in the Andean cloud forests remains, due to logging and farming. This habitat loss is currently one of the biggest threats to the survival of this specie as they are largely dependent on trees for food
>> Spectacle bears are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN
[ENG] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacled_bear
[ESP] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremarctos_ornatus
