Matador mask, La Paz, Bolivia

*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.

The Matador, with a black mask made of plaster and stucco, jumps around and teases the pair of bulls.  He wears an embroidered cloth on his chest that is draped over his shoulder to cover part of his back.  In his hand he carries a saber that was cut out of a barrel or a tin oil can, the way I saw my father and my grandfather make.  It has little bells made of beer and other bottle caps, that are flattened into rattles.  The matador also wears a colorful diamond shaped montera (cap).

“An Aymara Vision of the Altiplano Masks,” texts and photos by Sixto Choque in Masks of the Bolivian Andes, Editorial  Quipos and Banco Mercantil

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