What retablos talk about

Toward the XVI century, new ideological devices of evangelization were introduced in the Peruvian Central Andes. We refer to objects elaborated by santeros and imagineros, objects which were used in the conflict between the Christian belief system and the ancient one that survived in the Andean collective memory.
The enunciation categories during the mentioned century and the posterior one (XVII century) shall be understood “partially”. We establish that in this period syncretism took place especially during the introduction and comprehension of private property by the native population, which is reflected on the production and distribution relationships in the colonial Peru.
As a reaction to relations of exploitation and submission from colonial authorities , movements that followed a trend of thought that tried to return to ancient beliefs emerged, one of them was the resistance movement “Taqui Onccoy”, whose action focus was located in the San Juan de la Victoria region (current Ayacucho). This indicates a strong attachment to traditional beliefs.
During these centuries new domestic species were introduced: cattle, sheep, pig, equine, and others. These species will be symbolically collected by a collective memory through the standing materiality in which it actualizes.
The marking livestock and the irrigation canals cleaning (Fiesta del Agua) needed objects that could represent and actualize beliefs and cycles of production and fertility, objects as illas, conopas, pacchas and cochas that had multiple uses. The emergence of curas doctrineros and their battle against idolatry pushed those objects into an unofficial category. Nevertheless, in terms of utilization those objects didn’t lose their relevance due to the fact that they were integrated representationally in container boxes that are retablos .

The muleteers, perpetual walkers of the mountains and valleys, used to carry diverse goods and San Marcos boxes, activating the production and use of these ones. San Marcos boxes were movable objects that allowed liturgy and litany in different places of pragmatic use.

It was from the XVII to the XVIII century that those multiple representation forms consolidated into a unique hybridization. Their principal characteristics of production were that it was made anonymously and on request. These particularities will create an exceptional language. In this case, miniature sculpture, chromatic use of color, and the flowers and geometric forms as decorations highlight the importance of the memorial and ritual orality.
At the end of XIX to the beginning of XX century, in order to survive the retablos went from the ritual and memorial to the oral and memorial, coming to our time as a preservation of a collective evocation that is interpreted as a popular art.