Sarhua Boards

Tablas de Sarhua

In the region of Ayacucho – Peru (Maximo’s hometown) , there’s a village called “Sarhua” where these painted boards come from. In Sarhua, and in many parts of the Andes, people build their house with the help of the entire community.

When that happens, it’s traditional to have a godmother and a godfather of the home and once the home is ready, the godmother and godfather give the new family these painted boards called “Tablas de Sarhua” (tabla means board). Traditionally, the boards are graphic stories that depict the traditions and life of the family, so they might depict the work that they do, their children, their daily life, etc.

This also became a way to preserve the traditions, myths and history of the town, like a graphic story book. Traditionally the size of these boards are very large but in the last decade, artists from this community have begun to make small boards that depict their traditions, here we’re posting a few examples.

In the region of Ayacucho – Peru (Maximo’s hometown) , there’s a village called “Sarhua” where these painted boards come from. In Sarhua (and in many parts of the Andes) people build their house with the help of the entire community.

When that happens, it’s traditional to have a godmother and a godfather of the home and once the home is ready, the godmother and godfather give the new family these painted boards called “Tablas de Sarhua” (tabla means board). Traditionally, the boards are graphic stories that depict the traditions and life of the family, so they might depict the work that they do, their children, their daily life, etc.

This also became a way to preserve the traditions, myths and history of the town, like a graphic story book. Traditionally the size of these boards are very large but in the last decade, artists from this community have begun to make small boards that depict their traditions, here we’re posting a few examples.