Mythical Figures & Mucawas: Ceramics from the Ecuadorian Amazon

Pottery in the Ecuadorian Amazon Basin is rapidly disappearing as plastic and aluminum containers replace the traditional pottery.

Mythical Figures focuses on three of the best indigenous potters from the Kichwa culture: women who both make traditional pottery vessels such as the intricately decorated chicha drinking bowl called a mucawa, and who also create fascinating figurative work that comes from Kichwa mythology and their imaginations.

The book contains photographic portfolios of mucawas and also figurative work made from clay, along with a wealth of images of pottery making and other cultural and environmental images.

The authors have worked together for over 20 years on this project.

Professor Joe Molinaro has traveled many times to Ecuador, leading this documentary research project.

Prof. Richard Burkett has focused on photo and video documentation in Ecuador and the design of this book, their first on this topic.