Ahuayo c. 20th century

This Ahuayo at the Minneapolis Institute of Art is a textile woven with what feels like pure process, you know, like one step after another. Look at the palette: simple reds, blacks, and whites all working together. The texture is alive. The threads are like strokes of paint, built up in layers to create something strong but still soft. You can almost feel the maker’s hands moving back and forth, back and forth. There’s a rhythm in those bands of color, a heartbeat in the way the patterns repeat. There's a line of tiny motifs, they could be birds or mountains, something between language and image. It reminds me of some of Agnes Martin's grids, but with more give, more wobble. This piece isn’t about perfection, it’s about something more human, more lived-in. It shows us that making art is like having a conversation. You have to respond, keep the dialogue going, and trust that something beautiful will come out of it.