In search of the sacred blue river clay…

Mitú Diaries

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A trip among friends equally obsess about clay.
A journey about the ancestral knowledge from the Cubeo community,
about Luci and Rodri’s home and wisdom,
The adventure of building a wood kiln in the forest,
and the search for blue river clay.

*Research residency in Mitú (Vaupés, Colombia) with Mari, from @SALVAJE

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Together, we built a new wood kiln for Luci and Rodri. We use clay and sand from the Vaupés River, along with our own naked feet, to create the mix used to paste the bricks together.

Rodrigo called this new being of fire “Umako”, which is “Frog” in the Cubeo language, a mythical animal.

“UMAKO” Kiln

Our adventure in search of wild clay took us to a precious river spot,
here multiple colored
clays emerged as rocks.

We learnt how to process the clay,
add ashes from a tree bark
to make it more refractory,
and create pieces with it.

I did a cup and a pot.