Leidy martinez PaNDURO
+ familY

Yarinacocha, Pucallpa, Amazon of Peru

Leidy Martinez Panduro is a Mother, Potter and Woman of the Shipibo-Konibo peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. She derives from an esteemed Matriarchal lineage of potters whom have preserved their traditional craft and life ways for generations of grandmothers to granddaughters.

Her family, Celia Panduro (mother) and Arturo Martinez (father) live in the village of San Rafael, about 5 hours into the jungle from Pucallpa.

Leidy was raised in the village close to her grandmother whom taught her how to weave, work with Clay and the land at a young age. Leidy was very keen to know more so she would spend hours and hours with her grandmother in her casa de palma studio. She was a well recognized potter with oral stories of the Shipibo-Konibo that Leidy became fascinated with. Her grandmother taught Leidy how to work with Clay in the traditional way, how to weave their mantas tapestries, and how to work in the chakra garden, growing Yucca and getting to know the plants.

Leidy recalls of the times when she would accompany her grandmother to the river to go look for fish, paddling in the canoe where they would see the pink dolphins and connect with the Spirit of the Ucayali.

When Leidy was young, their traditions were well preserved as the elders were still alive.
As she grew older, she decided to leave the village and seek a modern way of living and working in the city. Years of resistance later, she realized the importance of her culture and returned to the village to continue learning their traditional crafts from her aunt.

Leidy now lives in the community of Yarinacocha with her daughter, Isabel and sons, Arturo and Emir. Leidy is devoted to her relationship with Clay, crafting her Origin stories through sculpture. She has been teaching her daughter, Isabel how to work with Clay and how to weave, passing on the knowledge that she once received. Her son, Arturo helps Leidy with the Quema Firing with chopping wood and guarding the Fire.

Their family is united through their traditions, and they strive to preserve their inheritances each and every day amidst global, governmental, political and environmental challenges.

HOW THEIR FAMILY has BEen AFFECTED BY COVID-19

Since the pandemic, Leidy and her family have been directly affected by the
economic crash as well as their health decline.

While they are working with their local plants and medicines to heal, the elders are at risk of further illnesses and their access to medical care is non-existent.

Indigenous Communities all over the world continue to be heavily affected
by the decrease in tourism and the lack of federal governmental aid.

With the support of our community, we’ve raised over $3,000 for their family
and their road of recovery from COVID-19. We are so thankful to our donors.

While they are past this place now, Leidy’s father Arturo is facing re-occurring health issues and their craft work is not being bought and continues to unfortunately be at a halt as tourism has decreased by 80% since 2020.