"Chakana"

“Chakana”

The Chakana, or Andean cross, is one of the strongest and most sacred symbols of the ancient cultures of the Andes, considered the most complete and holy geometric design of the Inca. Traditionally, it represents the constellation of the Southern Cross, seen in the southern hemisphere, and it is also a calendar written in stone and shadow. In sacred monuments across the Andes, it was aligned so precisely that at certain moments of the year the sunlight would cast its shadow into a perfect half, marking the sacred turning of the seasons.

The colors of this representation, black and red, were the colors worn in the attire of the Andean chiefs before the Conquest. At its center I placed Inti, the radiant sun, for the Inca wove their entire mythology around him. Inti was the giver of life, the golden father whose light governed the planting and the harvest and the divine order of all things.

This image was originally created as a hand-pulled silk-screen serigraph in the late 1980s. The original edition is no longer available, and it is now offered as a fine art print reproduction.