Pukllay

Pukllay is about the peruvian tauromaquia (bullfight) as part of the cultural identity of the country, seeking to understand and photograph it as a phenomenon resulting from the syncretism and miscegenation/mixing of the spanish and andean cultural heritage, including religion practice and rituals

Pukllay is about the peruvian tauromaquia (bullfight) as part of the cultural identity of the country, seeking to understand and photograph it as a phenomenon resulting from the syncretism and miscegenation/mixing of the spanish and andean cultural heritage, including religion practice and rituals. Unlike the catholic religion, that was imposed by colonization, the tauromaquia is something that peruvian people absorbed like a reversal cultural appropriation, and made something new, suy generes.

Pukllay means “play” in Quechua, one of the original peruvian languages. The Andean people originally called the tauromaquia as turupukllay or toro pukllay, wich means play with the bull.

It feels like the bull didn’t came from Spain, but that it was always there in the Andean mountains.