Hammering from the Inside. The feminine in Ecuadorian silversmithing: DJCAD Research Expo 2024, Group Exhibition, Matthew Building Gallery, DJCAD, Dundee

Exhibition venue: Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD), Dundee, UK
Exhibition Dates: 1 March 2024 - 25th March 2024

The Ecuadorian way of creating vessels by hammering on the inside from a single sheet of metal is, to the best of our knowledge, unique and unknown, at least in the UK. This is quite distinct from the better-known method of hammering “on/from the outside” (e.g. angle raising).
Of pre-Hispanic origins, this unique technique conveys a worldview and belief system related to the “feminine” (despite being practiced nowadays almost exclusively by men) and to creation as a process that a) comes from the complementarity of the masculine and the feminine, and b) where the source of all life is believed to come from the inside. The creation of vessels is not different from any other process of creation of (any form of) life in the Andes. This is conveyed in the language used to refer to techniques, tools and even the makers’ relationship with materials, which is permeated by gendered and sexual metaphors