Juana Mamani
a salt flat settlement near Uyuni, Bolivia
Juana Mamani works as a hospital laundry woman in Colchani, where each day she wrestles with the stubborn salt and dust embedded in miners' clothes. Years ago, her commitment to community became legend when she walked 300 miles to attend the funeral of someone she barely knew, believing deeply in honoring the dead. Her nights are filled with a personal symphony of sounds—the crinkling of dried salt beneath feet, the whisper of wind against corrugated metal—and she remains awake, caught between the needs of today and the worries of tomorrow.
About
Obsession
Listening to the house's night-time symphony
Voice
Salt-crusted wind before dawn
Artistic Medium
Salt floor impressions
Technique
Impressing with patterned stones
Influences
Altiplano landscape, miners' quiet determination, and the funeral walk
Materials
Salt crust from the settlement ground
Scale
Floor-scale, entire room sections
Selected 3 times · Last: March 31, 2026
