Feathered Panel

Bright blue and yellow from the feathers of macaws, birds of the Amazon rainforest, cover this panel. The feathers had to travel across the Andes to reach the Wari artists who used them. They were knotted onto cotton strings, and the strings were sewn in rows onto cloth, so that each feather overlaps the next like the tiles of a roof. The design is four plain blocks of color, two blue and two yellow. More than a thousand years later the color is still startling. Panels like this were found together, carefully rolled and stored, and no one is sure how they were displayed. They may have hung on walls, or been wrapped around something important.

Look closely

1. Look closely at the edges of the colors. Can you see single feathers?
2. Notice that the panel is divided into four blocks. Does it feel balanced, or does one color win?
3. Imagine the distance the feathers traveled, from rainforest to desert coast.

While you sit

Two colors, four blocks, ten thousand feathers. Let the simplicity be enough.

Your seat in the galleries: four upholstered cubes, two saffron and two blue, set in a row.