marco carpio

In the fishing village of El Ñuro, whales are a presage of abundance. Through this mural, built in collaboration with the community, we transformed this private belief in a public artistic evocation. Inspired by The Graveyard By The Sea, Paul Valery's poem, we collected 3,000 remains of sea animals stranded on the beach and used them to create this piece from a mixture of lime, bones, shells, sea stones, charcoal, balsa wood, sand and cement.

Arca Blanca (White Ark) 2017. 2 x 20m. El Ñuro, Peru. 

2014. 4.8 x 1 x 2.4 m. Metaphor of the Anthropocene. Wall built with 3,000 loaves of bread and 300 neotropical bird skins from the scientific collection of CORBIDI www.corbidi.org Photos: Eddy Espinoza.

In 2000, a lost friend dreamed he was walking in the high Andes when he saw a huge pirka (Inca wall) in the horizon constructed with dead birds. At the end of the wall, on the top of a ladder, he found me building it. Fourteen years later his dream came true.

2011-2014. Works inspired in the Inca rituals of Capacocha that sacrifice human and animal lives in gratitude to the richness provided by the Earth; these still take place in some areas of the Peruvian Andes and Amazon.

Stuffed condor, dressed with a golden embroidered vest and a llama foetus. Photos: Eddy Espinoza.

2010-2014. 156 x 36cm. Oil on photography, Amazonian insects.

Inspired in the beliefs of 'mercury healing’ by some artisanal gold miners of the Amazonian Andes. Artisanal miners use cresols to separate gold ores releasing mercury to the atmosphere. Some miners drink the cinnabar produced in this process known as 'refogueo', driven by the belief that cinnabar will lead them to immortality, just like the creatures who are poisoned in the process.

2014. 180 x 120cm. Amazonian beetle, porcupine spines, macaw feathers, caiman remains, droppings of Amazonian eagles, tar, oil painting.

As the convictions of old civilizations, some Andean miners drink the cinnabar produced in the process to separate gold ores, driven by the belief that cinnabar (cinabrio) will lead them to immortality. This painting represents a hominid covered with cinnabar with a caiman in his mouth, the poisoned caiman is vomiting eagle droppings, and the rhinoceros beetle symbolize eternity.

2010-2014. 52 x 90cm. Oil on photography, Amazonian insects and parrot feather.

2010- 2014. 160 x 108cm. Causainikita Apachimuay (Give me your life to continue living. Translation from Quechua) This is a sacred phrase that Andean peasants and miners pronounce only in private ceremonies like sacrifices and offerings for the earth and sun. 

The photo registers a performance of a live harpy eagle dressed with a golden vest embroidered with a llama foetus. 2010. Performance photo: Carolina Cardich edited by Marco Carpio.

The painting was inspired on the volcano eruptions and solar flares. 2014. Oil and charcoal remains on photo printed on canvas gicleé.

2011. 3 x 1.70m. Punta Negra Beach, Peru. Remains of marine animals and calicanto - lime, bones, shells, stones, ocean sand, cement. Photos: Daniela Lainez

Estela marina (Marine Stele) was built in memory of the 2,000 seabirds that died here due to blast fishing in 2010. It was installed on the cliff that faces the ocean with the collaboration of my handline fishermen friends who protect these seas from illegal fishing without the support of the authorities. Each brick is made with the bones and carcasses of marine animals. The ocean breeze has started to erode the bricks unveiling their contents until the day they disappear.

2011. 2x2x2m. Stuffed Peruvian Booby, fishing hooks, feathers, fishing lines and sinkers. Photos: Daniela Lainez

Zarcillo and Gregorio are two old friends, fishermen. 20 years ago they made their own feather lures integrating art, magic and utility, to compete with wild species for the same resource. Today they hardly use these apparel because of the scarcity of large fish. They subsist silently. The archaic order they represent between humanity and nature has almost disappeared.

2014. 160 x 120 cm.  Wool, stuffed birds and gold leaves on canvas. Photos: Eddy Espinoza.

1999- 2005. Works of an exhibition showed in Lima titled Vitalismo.

2008-2015. Variable dimensions.

2014. 25 x 9m. Droppings of Amazonian eagles, burnt motor oil, synthetic paint. Iphone Photos: Antonio Jara.

Work inspired by a small family of Pelejos (sloths) isolated by the construction of the bridge and urbanization in Puerto Maldonado-Peru. That family lives in a small forest located on the opposite shore of this mural. Sloths are the main prey of harpy eagles. I used eagle droppings to create a subtle allegory of symbiotic relationships and energy cycles. This mural was possible thanks to the support of local friends and the spotaneous help of Mario Benavente who since the construction of the bridge lost his job, he crossed the Madre de Dios river daily, carrying people, cars and trucks with his raft. To survive, he was forced to sell his raft to the gold miners.