Written by Vanesa Catellani
Martín Bonadeo presented his latest site-specific project, Huaca Huichaira, at the Museo en los Cerros MEC in the province of Jujuy. This large-scale intervention in the landscape spans 240 meters and uses stones to replicate the dark constellations that ancient Andean peoples saw within the Milky Way.
During his visit to MEC in August 2024, he worked moving the stones that were in place. After four days and with the drawings already completed, Bonadeo knew that the condor would visit them: “The figures that appear as dark clouds in the river of stars (Willka Mayu/Milky Way) correspond to a snake, a toad, an Andean partridge found in the only dark constellation with a western name (the sack of coal) near the Southern Cross. Then there is a dinosaur-shaped llama, whose eyes correspond to Alpha and Beta Centauri. Beneath the llama is the baby llama being stalked by a fox, who doesn’t eat it because a shepherd takes care of the llamas. At the other end of the snake, complementing it, the condor takes care of all the rest of the creatures.”
These dark constellations were first described by Andean archaeology specialist Gary Urton and later studied by other researchers. Dark constellations can only be seen in the planet’s southern hemisphere. They are giant clouds of interstellar dust at the center of the galaxy. Andean peoples saw constellations formed by stars and those formed by dark patches in the Milky Way. In these clouds, they recognized animals and other elements of everyday life, creating a worldview in which stellar animals were responsible for the procreation and growth of these animals on Earth.
