Hawk + Research

Waman Poma (Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala), an indigenous chronicler from the Andes, is one of the foremost exponents of indigenous literary and visual creation in America. His masterpiece, “El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno,” is notable for denouncing the abuses committed by the Spanish against indigenous peoples in a letter to King Felipe III. But this was no ordinary letter: it spanned 1000 pages with 400 hand-drawn ink illustrations. This colossal work disappeared for centuries but was rediscovered in the early 20th century in the library of the Danish crown. It is one of the few creative and cultural expressions that remain (almost) intact from the early period of the European conquest of the Andean region.

Its content, coupled with the aura of mystery surrounding its author, has inspired me to undertake this research-creation work. Using Bitsy, an open-source engine for developing minimalist video games, and engaging with the work of intellectuals like Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, “Halcón y Puma” aims to pay tribute to Guamán through speculative fiction. The project seeks to converge various thematic axes such as racism, sovereignty, and religion. My approach focuses on an aesthetic approximation, not seeking a realistic historical reproduction, but rather an updating of the past in the present. This will be achieved through a dialogue with decolonial aesthetic theories, seeking to materialize elements of a distant era, accessible only through works like this or creative imagination. Additionally, for this project, I have digitally processed some of the chronicler’s illustrations to present them in a pixel art style, thanks to the tools developed by the Bitsy community. I have also composed a song inspired by Andean music for Guaman, attempting to emulate the sounds of a charango and a zampoña/panflute using MIDI.

In the game, players join Guaman on his journey to defend the lives and rights of the indigenous peoples of the region. Along the way, he encounters a spirit from distant lands who constantly questions his motives. This spirit is a representation of Niccolò Machiavelli, a figure who challenges Guaman from a different worldview and set of motivations. This creative exercise is particularly intriguing due to several important details discovered during the research process: 1) Guaman is writing to the King, while Machiavelli wrote to the Prince. 2) Both are figures from significant historical, political, and cultural transitions. 3) Machiavelli passed away just a couple of years before Guaman Poma’s probable birth. As a result, Maqui, the spirit players will encounter, is a lost soul who arrived with some colonizers in Tahuantinsuyo.