With ticket in hand and camera around my neck, I headed to Peru realizing that I had bit off a little more than I could chew. My vision was to create the opportunity for myself that I had always dreamt of, to immerse myself in a culture that is different than my own and capture my surroundings. What I forgot was that’s hard to do that when you don’t speak the language I promised my self that I was going to really learn Spanish before I left. I got the CDs and the apps that seemed to remain on tomorrows To Do list. I took it in middle school but still can only ask for the bathroom, and if this was in deed, the library. Since I didn’t learn the language I had to rely on my expressions and hand gestures to what got me through in times of difficult communication.
As a bodyworker and an artist, I work with my hands and I’ve found it has an effect on how I communicate with the world. But throughout this trip, I have grown even a greater appreciation for our capability to communicate with our extremities. So over this trip, I began to capture just how much we accomplish with our meat hooks, if you will. Without knowing it I was gathering a series that highlighted the hard work and the craftsmanship of all things Peru.
What I found was that Peru is a vibrate culture that is still sticking to many traditions as the modern world takes over. I enjoyed learning out to make and dye alpaca wool but also drinking Piscos in the city. And even in times where we could not speak to one another, they still showed me which fruit to pick trees, gave me directions when I was lost on my bike, and taught me to enjoy all the foods that I could get my hands on. (see what I do there; ) My last reminder from the Peruvians, was that picking out your own produce from locally grown farms is not just the fad, Its a way of life that should stick around.
I came home from my trip, reflecting what I thought my adventure was about and what reality actually had in store for me,
Katy Karns Photography 