For the Wichí people, the first known weave is tayhi, that dense entanglement of nature that
gives shape to living beings — the density of life with which we construct our way of living. When
weaving, Wichí women perform a choreography in which they connect thoughts and emotions
while identifying places and moments from memory. The weaving reflects the strength of a
people who walk in circles and build and rebuild their own history. It is wisdom woven together
throughout time, like the threads of a weave that is a dance and a shared path.
In the Wichí language, the word ipätsin is used to name different actions: weaving, interweaving,
embroidering. It refers to a movement that has a purpose and can be translated as “to weave,”
but it encompasses everything involved in preparing the thread. There is another word, the verb
tayhin, which also means to weave. Both words end in “-in” and can function as gerunds, as they
refer to a continuous action: weaving. This incessant movement creates what we call layik, the
result of the weavers’ actions. Layik is the skin, the surface, the scar.
We call the tree-covered territory tayhi, which is usually translated as “forest”; this word derives
from tayhin because there is a continuous action on the surface of the earth, on the vegetation,
which envelops (ipätsinlhi) the ground with varying degrees of density.
Demóstenes Toribio

This work was made for PAC Art Residency in Houston; 2026