Explore Black History

ca. 2006-2008

In 2006, a group of women in Mampuján, Colombia formed a textile collective in the aftermath of a devastating paramilitary attack. The collective draws upon Afro-Caribbean storytelling and local textile art traditions, to create tapestries that document their history and the atrocities their community has suffered, past and present. The community Mampuján, one of 20 historical Palenques or maroon settlements formed by escapees in Colombia, has faced violence throughout its existence, from colonial extermination campaigns in the 16th and 17th centuries to the paramilitary attack. Sewing tapestries is one method women from this community have used to address and heal from trauma.
This tapestry, Encuentro de 3 Mundos (Meeting of 3 Worlds), presents the collision of Europe, Africa, and the Americas in the historic violence of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, illustrating the disembarkation of captives in what is now known as Colombia. From the artist's statement:
This tapestry] depicts a large ship... where Africans and European slavers go down a ladder, and put their feet in the Americas, land of Indigenous...
They found three worlds: Europe, Africa, and America. From Europe came Christopher Columbus and his son, enslavers of Indigenous people in the Americas and Africa. From Africa came the enslaved Blacks. People from the Americas received human beings from the continents of Europe and Africa and experienced exploitation...
We hope that this work reaches these continents... the only reparation for the victims is that the truth is told and recognized so that it never happens again. — Juana Alicia Ruiz Hernández, Mampuján weaver
The Mampuján tapestries have been displayed in museums in Colombia, including a piece on permanent display at the National Museum of Bogota and in the Mampuján museum newly opened in 2023. In 2015, the weaving collective won the Premio Nacional de la Paz award, an important peace prize in Colombia for their community organization and projects around the sewing collective.

One (1) cotton quilt tapestry, Encuentro de 3 Mundos (Meeting of Three Worlds), crafted by Mujeres Tejedoras de Mampuján (The Weavers of Mampuján), circa 2006 to 2008.
The tapestry is vertically oriented, has a white cotton border, and depicts two major scenes, from top to bottom. The tapestry is constructed of colorful strips of cloth that include solid colors, food and nature depictions, abstract and geometric patterns, all specifically shaped and sewn together in a storytelling display. At the top, is a purple and black cloth cloudy sky and a bright orange sun at the horizon. Below the sun is the title [ENCUENTRO DE 3 / MUNDOS] with each word in a different colored cloth: white, light green, a dark pattern, and orange.
The first scene illustrates the arrival of the violent Transatlantic Slave Trade in what is now known as Colombia. Depicted against a blue-sky background, two enslaved Africans and their white captors disembark a multi-colored slave ship afloat on a purple-patterned sea. The ship base is made of strips of geometric and patterned cloth with blue, brown, red, green, white, pink, gold, purple, and orange. The ship has three large sails each made from a different cloth: a green, white, and black marble pattern; a pattern of white loops against orange; and a solid red. White string is sewn between the sails to represent the rigging. On the top left of the ship, below the left sail, a white man with yellow hair, wearing a red tunic, brown trousers, and black boots, appears to leap. He holds a brown whip in his proper right hand. Several faceless black enslaved figures stand at the center of the ship.
The second scene is set against a green background with three large trees across the center and a blue riverbank at the bottom of the tapestry. Each tree is composed of different fabrics for the canopies, from left to right: green foliage with white berries, red fruit, and yellow flowers. In the mid-ground, a white man with brown hair and a whip, directs a Black enslaved woman, her hands shackled behind her back. Just below, are several scenes of indigenous figures, all with long, dark hair, going about their daily life along a riverbank: gathering food, hunting, raising children. The river is depicted with plain blue cloth and the riverbank has flowers embroidered in pink, blue, and yellow. Three chickens strut along the very bottom edge of the tapestry. At the bottom right corner is an intricately embroidered floral design in white. The reverse of the tapestry is white cotton.

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Textiles and Quilts

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Juana Alicia Ruiz Hernandez, Mujeres Tejedoras de mampujan

National Museum of African American History and Culture

2024.2.1

tapestries

© Women Weavers of Mampujan
Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

cotton and linen with batting and thread

H x W x D: 69 1/2 × 28 1/2 × 1/8 in. (176.5 × 72.4 × 0.3 cm)

Title • Encuentro de 3 Mundos

nmaahc_2024.2.1

NMAAHC

ENCUENTRO DE 3 MUNDOS

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

2010s • 2000s

Mujeres Tejedoras de Mampuján • Hernandez, Juana Alicia Ruiz

South America • Mampuján • Montes de María • Colombia • Bolívar • Latin America

African diaspora • Slavery • Women • Communities • Trans-Atlantic slave trade • Violence • British colonialism • Spanish colonialism • Free communities of color • Portuguese colonialism

African Americans • Africans

City • Mampuján • County • Montes de María • State • Bolívar • Country • Colombia • Region • Latin America • Continent • South America

Images

Limited Use