The San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Indigenous Botanical Illustration Project
Summer 2004 and 2006
For over two thousand years, the people of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, have had a long tradition of healing practices involving plants. The local indigenous people have organized a group, the Comunidad Indígena Atacameña San Pedro de Atacama (the Atacama Indigenous Community San Pedro of Atacama), to help them regain some of the knowledge of their ancestors. One of their projects is a book on the local medicinal flora. So far, they have registered over 30 plants. The group has been working with local healers and their elders to assemble lists of plants and their medicinal uses.
In the summer of 2004 and 2006, I worked with members of the community to help them gain skills and basic knowledge of plant illustration sponsored by an American Society of Botanical Artist’s Grant. The projects involved teaching groups of approximately 15 students. In 2004, I gave 15 hours of instruction in pencil, ink and watercolor as tools for the illustration of local medicinal plants. In 2006, I gave 21 hours of instruction. The Tropical Botanic Artists contributed a myriad of art supplies for the projects; the community provided working space and plant collections. Children in the local school have been introduced to plant collecting and documentation as a result of my work with the community. It is a project that continues to blossom.
The disappearance of plant species in South America is at an all time high. As a result of this, and the rapid development in the town, the local population is highly motivated to document plants from this unique desert climate. Moreover, instructing botanical illustration techniques in small remote communities can help preserve knowledge about local flora that would be unattainable in other ways.
