Las quilas

In 1995, the Chilean state made a grave mistake when it detained Marcelina (68), an Indigenous spiritual authority, a machi of the Mapuche people. The police stripped her of her jewelry and traditional clothing and sent her to a men’s prison despite her identifying as a woman. She was unjustly accused of murdering a patient through witchcraft, triggering feelings that led her to leave her community, even after her innocence was proven. Thirty years later, Cons (34) delves into her story—into a world foreign to her—confronting lessons and prejudices she had never known.

You Will Never Be a Weye is a video performance by Chilean artistə Seba Calfuqueo inspired by the ancestral culture of the Machis Weyes, which, despite its vital role, was historically concealed after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores on Chilean soil, and not accepted by the imported models of society, religion and patriarchy, despite his vital role for Mapuche people. Archival documents on Machis Weyes culture are almost completely non-existent, yet they are reported in the 1673 book El Cautiverio Feliz by the Spanish writer Francisco Ñúñez de Pineda y Bascuñán. In this book, he states referring to a Machi Weye: “He resembled Lucifer in features, size and costume. He wore no underwear because he was of those called hueyes”.