The Essence of the Inner Core

The four most important features of the Andean worldview which are found in their artwork are collectivity, reciprocity, transformation, and essence. Collectivity means that they the whole was more important than its parts, individual, which don’t have to be equal. Reciprocity is when a part is countered by or related to another. Transformation is dealing with one state of being to another and cycles, such as life and death. Essence is how the Andeans preferred symbolic reality over outward appearance. Although the mentality of Andean society was to favor the whole over the part, socially cultures were extremely unequal. Hierarchy dominated the social and political structure of most Andean cultures. The social hierarchy of the Andes influenced the art. Because the role of a person and his position in society were important, Andean arts also focus on a person’s position in society.

The Andean viewpoint focused on a cyclical thinking. Life and death were not seen as separate entities, but as just parts of a greater ever-revolving process. The world was seen as constantly changing between different elements and the art of the time showed this. Different transformations, such as shaman priests changing from their human form to animals to super naturals, united them of cyclical forms.

 Andean art tended to focus on a person’s role in society, rather than their specific personal qualities. Duality is found through the art’s stress on interlocked opposites, pairs, doubling and mirror images. Andeans believes in a universe of transformations form one plane of existence to another. The theme of transformation and cyclical thinking is seen through the dynamic circular compositions that can be found throughout the works of art.
The view , “essence” or the “inner core” was valued over outward appearance. For example, essence explains how the Nasca Lines are too large to be seen; it is not necessarily important that an image be visible for its essence to be conveyed. 'Andean art favored the symbolic reality, the inner core, over outward appearance.