Making Mito

Disponible en español aquí

The community of Mito is the focus of the fourth edition of PeruZine, available at Betula Books. This article provides some background to this photo essay and how it was made.

The town of Mito

Home of the Huaconada

Mito, a town of around 1,500 people, is located 3,286 m high in the Andes of Peru in Concepción, Junín Region. It is the home of the Huaconada, a cultural dance and event performed in January of each year that UNESCO recognized for its Intrinsic Cultural Heritage in 2010.

Wilder Ruben Enrique Camac (Huacon name: Pañamaki, or Right Hand)

Intrinsic Cultural Heritage

The Huaconada is a ritual that brings traditions into the ongoing social life of the people of Mito. It reaffirms and maintains their collective identity, founded in indigenous, pre-Hispanic Andean culture, and adapted to later colonial and more modern influences. It is a representation of their past brought alive and current through the values embodied in the masked figure of the Huacon and the transfer and retention of their cultural knowledge through the generations.

Left: Julio Landeo Álvarez, mask maker in his studio, The Golden Huacon.

Right: Medardo Verastegui Inga (Huacon name: Huaca Cacha).

Creating the Zine

The photographs in PeruZine 04 were made in Mito between December 31, 2018, to January 3, 2019, when I was producing a more comprehensive book (Behind the Mask) and documentary film (The Mask and More) about the Huaconada of Mito. Given the relatively high cost of producing and shipping a large (116-page) publication, I decided to create this shorter and more accessible publication as part of my series PeruZine. You can see more about how I create photo books here.

Please click on the Betula Books box below to find out more, or buy a copy of Mito and other books in the PeruZine series.