Retablos Palomino y Jiménez

Retablos are a sophisticated folk art in the form of portable boxes filled with brightly colored figurines arranged in intricate storytelling scenes. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Spanish priests carried the altarpieces through the mountains as portable religious shrines for Catholic saints. Later, they were adapted by the indigenous people to include their own customs, carnivals, legends, religious festivals, deities, superstitions, and everyday life.

This art form tells a story, and are a way of expressing what happens in our community. We have been doing this traditional art for generations. We are a family of artisans, from Perú led by Eleudora Jiménez, the daughter of the Great Master Florentino Jiménez Toma, and the first woman Retablista in Perú. Eleudora works alongside her husband, Fidel Palomino, whose family has been making Andean textiles for generations. The three children — Danika, Zuly, and Sebastian — all have learned the family art and traditions and all make beautiful work.

The retablo figures are made out of potato masa (pulp) mixed with plaster, which preserves the dough. Each figure is hand-sculpted individually, and then painted with natural dye using brushes made of horse hair and cat fur.

The retablos that the we make reflect the stories of political conflict we experienced in 1980 in our home country of Perú.