ROBERTO MAMANI MAMANI
Who actually is Mamani Mamani?
Born in an Aymara family in Cochabamba (a city in Bolivia) in 1962, Roberto started drawing and painting in a young age when he was barely able to speak. At the age of five he left Cochabamba to live in his parents home town of Tiwanaku, where is grandmother taught him about the traditions of their people.
What does he do?
As he started to paint colorful interpretations of his proud Aymara heritage. As a young man, Mamani Mamani moved to La Paz to study in the more profitable field of agronomy, but his love for art never went. With no money to buy supplies, he used to draw sketches over the top of old newspaper clippings to ensure his skills remained intact.
Why is he a role model?
Above all else, his work is instantly recognizable for its vibrant colors, a style that has been influenced by indigenous Bolivian weavers. Each painting is chock-full of elements symbolizing Andean heritage, such as cholitas, condors, mountains and llamas. Many of his symbols also contain a hidden meaning. For example, a yellow sun represents masculinity while a blue moon portrays femininity. Mamani Mamani’s psychedelic, abstract art is a uniquely modern representation of indigenous heritage. It is his vision of his people through texture, character, emotion and feeling.
Mamani mamani's Achievements
For a man who is completely self-taught, Mamani Mamani has had phenomenal success in Bolivia and on the international stage. He has been featured in 58 exhibitions since 1983 (52 of those entirely in his name), won countless awards and has been covered extensively in the international press. These days, Mamani Mamani spends most of his time traveling around the world to exhibit in cities like Tokyo, Munich, and London. When he is in Bolivia, he likes to visit local schools to encourage youngsters to pursue their dreams.
Why we admirate Mamani Mamani?
We see that Mamani's mission is focused on establishing among Bolivians the pride of recognizing themselves as indigenous, as full heirs by right of their lands and their ancestral wisdom.
He makes unitary murals for each subject to represent, thus managing to hit the indigenous spectator, impelling him to free himself from that alienated state that led him to deny his essence, towards already, the liberation of being able to recognize themselves as unique beings, previously denied in their dignity by their belonging to a millenarian culture as it is the quechua-aymara.
On the other hand, showing Mamani as a diffuser of his own pride in knowing himself to be Aymara, it is through his painting that he continues to feed the impulse of openness in the hearts of the majority of Bolivians to recognize themselves as deserving and heirs of their ancient culture that is still alive and vibrant and needs to be protected.
Street art of Mamani Mamani
This picture is from my city back in Bolivia.