SUNI SONQO VIZCARRA WOOD

I was born in Taos, New Mexico in 1996 from a Native Peruvian father and a New Mexican mother. I grew up between Taos, NM, and the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Cusco, in the southern Andes of Peru, immersed in my rich Indigenous culture. My life has taken place in a community of people who, together with my family, commit their lives to recover and reactivate the festive, ceremonial, and agricultural calendars of our pre-Columbian tradition. Together with a network of local and international Indigenous Nations, we are dedicated to preserving our roots while embracing our future.

I studied sculpture at the Art University Bellas Artes Diego Quispe Tito in Cusco, Peru and at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM where I received my BFA with honors in sculpture. I am a member of the Kusi Kawsay Educational Community, and a musician of the Kusi Ñan traditional Cusqueña music group. I am a traditional karate practitioner with black belt 2nd Dan, and a certified official tour guide. I have participated in cultural exchanges between Indigenous nations since I can remember.

In my artistic works I try to transmit and communicate messages to awaken the conscience of our people about the importance of our ancestral cultural identity, and achieve a balance between living immersed in this world of modernity but without separating from our roots in order to emerge with dignity, and to build our collective destiny based on respect, reciprocity and gratitude.