Innovative Formats > Chanccani Quipu
The Chanccani Quipu reinvents the 5,000 year-old quipu, which recorded the literature of the Incas through knots in thread. Poet and artist Cecilia Vicuña often writes bilingual poetry that explores how phrases and even words can be taken apart and rearranged to form multiple readings. The words on the strands of the quipu can be braided to create alternative poems.
Chanccani Quipu was produced and published by Granary Books in an edition of 32 copies each made entirely by hand. The poem was printed on unspun wool using stencils made by the poet who also knotted the threads. The work is housed in a hand-stenciled box (18½ x 18½ x 4 inches) made by Susan Mills.