Asungate mountain – a mountain which is considered an Apu or a deity in the Andean world and is also called The Rainbow Hill because of its colourful formation, a result of complex compositions of minerals. The mountain is located 100 kilometres away from the city of Cusco, at an altitude of 5,200 meters above sea level. Due to climate change, the Cordillera Vilcanota glacial –where the Rainbow Hill is located– has diminished by more than a third, making it is possible to see the mountain’s colourful formation.

The Hill of Seven Colours is located in the middle of the lands of the mine “Camino Minerals Corporation” (Canada).Three years ago, it was declared a Natural Historic Monument, preventing this natural landscape formation from disappearing. However, such protection was given due to tourism interests and not exactly because of its cultural significance.

Rainbow hill is a phenomenon that can be understood as a result of global warming. Global warming has considerable effects in the Andes. The glacial retreat from the Cordillera Vilcanota, where the Rainbow Mountain is located, has diminished substantially in more than a third. UNESCO has even warned in a statement released in 2018, of these worrying effects for Perú –one of most vulnerable countries in the world regarding climate change– which has seemed half of its glaciers gone in the past late four decades.For my research I used a software based on visual nodes, to modify the colours of the mountain’s minerals by three factors: thaw, oxidation and time. This generated data which was then applied into a new textile pattern. In doing so, I attempt to address questions such as: What would the coloured stratigraphic scale of the Rainbow Hill will look like in a thousand years from now?

At the formal level I would work with a technique based on a 4-wheel loom, wired cooper and wool balls from natural dyes. My intention is to locate such ancestral knowledge within the present context, making it relevant today by reflecting on the devastating effects of climate change.