Tupananchiskama: Ancient Andean Cosmovision at MOA UBC
The Museum of Anthropology at UBC (MOA) presents the world premiere of Tupananchiskama: Ancient Andean Cosmovision, opening this March. Featuring nearly 100 items crafted from ceramic, textile, bone, shell, and wood, the exhibition considers the ancestral understandings of a world where life and death coexist in a continuous cycle, or “Tupananchiskama” in the Indigenous language of Quechua, which translates to “until life brings us together again.”
Tupananchiskama: Ancient Andean Cosmovision at MOA UBC
- Dates: March 19, 2026–January 3, 2027
- Location: Museum of Anthropology (UBC – 6393 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver)
- Admission: Tickets available for purchase at the door
- MOA will celebrate the exhibit’s opening night on Thursday, March 19, 2026, from 6:00pm to 9:00pm, with free museum admission for all.
Guest curated by Luis Manuel González, Adjunct Professor in UBC Department of Anthropology, the bilingual (English and Spanish) exhibition offers a glimpse into Andean cosmovision, a holistic and spiritual framework that explains the structure of the universe.
Tupananchiskama: Ancient Andean Cosmovision draws from MOA’s collection of ancient Andean artifacts, donated to the museum by American art historian, curator, and collector Alan R. Sawyer. The exhibition features works from various Andean cultures located in different geographical areas (coast and highlands) and from different periods (hunter-gatherers to the Inka). The majority of the pieces on display are ceramics from Peruvian cultures: the Moche on the northern coast and the Nasca on the southern coast.
While ancient Andean culture is not a monolith, the exhibition highlights some of the common elements that are shared across cultures and eras. From the chakana–also known as the Southern Cross, a geometric shape that depicts cosmological motifs and mirrors the Southern Cross (Crux) constellation in the southern hemisphere–to the Staff God–a deity archetype associated with creation and cosmic order–these symbols represent similar yet distinct ideas of how people viewed the world and passed on their ancestral knowledge. Each civilization left its mark on various materials, and this collection of artifacts highlights the Andes’ unified essence passed down through generations, but also how ideas, concepts, and beliefs shifted and transformed over time and within each community.
The exhibition will also include an animated projection of an oil painting by contemporary Peruvian artist Miguel Araoz Cartagena of the Milky Way, which highlights the Inka’s belief in a dual constellation system. Along with the more commonly recognized light constellations–star groupings that resemble animals, gods, and heroes–the Inkas also recognized dark constellations–shapes identified within the dark patches of the Milky Way, made out of shadows.
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