Art
David Díaz Gonzáles photography exhibition running up to December 31 at Limerick Museum
Limerick Museum, Henry StreetShipibo-Konibo, Portraits of my Blood by David Díaz Gonzales, a freelance Shipibo-Konibo photographer based in Pucallpa, Peru. Offically opened by The Ambassador of Peru to Ireland is His Excellency, Mr. Jaime Cacho-Sousa, Deputy Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Maria Donoghue, hosted by Dr Matthew Potter and Zara Power Limerick Museum and curated by Maurice Quillinan. Picture: Keith Wiseman
Shipibo-Konibo: Portraits Of My Blood exhibition by David Díaz Gonzáles opens in Limerick Museum running up to December 31
Through this exhibition, young Peruvian photographer David Díaz Gonzáles invites viewers on an intimate journey into the heart of the Shipibo community, capturing the rhythms of everyday life, cultural traditions, and the deep connection to the land that shapes the identity of the people from whom he descends. His work offers not just images, but a narrative that reflects both heritage and contemporary realities.
The Shipibo-Konibo are an indigenous people who live in the Amazon rainforest of Peru. Formerly two groups, they merged through intermarriage and communal rituals. Forming small villages along the banks of the Ucayali River and its tributaries, the Shipibo-Konibo currently have a population of 32,000 citizens distributed in 150 communities. They still maintain many of their customary beliefs and traditions. They have their own language, although most can speak Spanish as well.
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Their society is matriarchal, with women having a dominant say in community decisions, and being the primary artists. The Shipibo-Konibo are famed for their distinctive geometric designs which they use to decorate their handmade ceramics and textiles.
An expert in digital graphic design, David Díaz Gonzáles acquired his first camera eight years ago and now lives in Lima, where he studies photography and is particularly interested in the work of pioneering artists such as Martín Chambi and others, whose influence he seeks to assimilate in documenting his Amazonian roots. He is also a photojournalist and, in 2021, received a scholarship from the Amazon Rainforest Journalism Foundation of the Pulitzer Centre.
Dr Matthew Potter, Curator of Limerick Museum, commented, “In this exhibition, young photographer David Díaz Gonzáles offers a careful immersion into the daily life of the Shipibo community from which he originates.
“Weavers working their art with natural dyes and clay on traditional fabric. Children splashing in the lagoons formed by the rising waters of the Ucayali River. Ancient healers exercising their herbal wisdom. And, as a backdrop, the density of all that is green, is captured in the black and white of the vast rainforest.”
The exhibition is free of charge and runs in the Limerick Museum until Wednesday, 31st December 2025.
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