You may be familiar with Julio Ibarrola who was featured during our crowd-funding campaign in the Huffington Post. Well we’re catching up with him again to get some insight into what it’s like living in a community with a local SPI project site.
What was your community like before SPI’s project began?
“Before SPI, my community didn’t know a thing about pottery. They didn’t know anything about archaeology either and would only devote their time to farming and raising their livestock. My actual students were part of that but now some of them are even coming from outside the community.”
What was your relationship with your local cultural heritage site then?
“It was always around me but I didn’t really know about it, I didn’t relate to it. I thought they were just some Inca mounds, I had no idea there was a local culture I could relate to. When I was a kid I used to enjoy watching the looters do their thing around here, they caught my attention, back then I didn’t know they were destroying my heritage. It was the common thing to see in the 80′s, especially during drought season, farmers used to loot so they could get some money after selling the looted vessels to people who would only come for that. If the central area of San Jose de Moro got preserved it is because it used to be the soccer field.”
Tell us about the new artisan centre in your local community?
“It was the year of 1991 when the San Jose de Moro Archaeological Program started and changed my life. I got to work with them and they taught about what they were doing, their findings. Then it was Fredy Galvez, my teacher, the one who helped me perfect my skills on pottery production. Now I have this workshop and I devote all my time to it, I have become a little known, I feel like a professional and sometimes popular (he laughs). I have my own students and I can pass my knowledge and expertise but also respect for the heritage, an important thing to learn for the younger minds.”
Has your relationship with your local cultural heritage site changed since SPI has been involved with San Jose de Moro?
“I think SPI has helped my community more than my own. Now, people protect and understand why it is important to do so. We all have learned and improved at different levels. A key thing SPI did was to get the community involved through workshops and others that people have happily attended.”
How do you see your community’s future?
“I view it favorably, here we all are thrilled by the idea of having a museum so tourists will come and we can show our products. The community is really looking forward to it and more than eager to get involved. I hope that someday I can pass my knowledge like I do now but at other sites. Also, I dream of the day when San Jose de Moro is world famous.”
“I want to take this as a chance to thank SPI, my teacher Fredy Galvez and SJM director: Dr. Castillo who introduced to me this wonderful world that archaeology is.”
Julio Ibarrola demonstrating one of his handcrafted Moche pieces in San Jose de Moro, Peru.
