The KOGI
Colombia
Coming soon: our journey with the Kogi.
High in the cloud-wrapped peaks of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia lives a People who guard an ancient territory they call the Heart of the World. Others would know it as the tallest coastal mountain range on earth, where all the ecosystems from the snow to the sea are nested.
At the heart of Kogi life are the “Mamos and Sagas,” spiritual and political leaders; some of them are raised in darkness for the first years of their lives, so they learn to see with inner vision and to learn and sense the original ways of nature. Guided by ancient wisdom given to them through stories, dances, chants, sacred objects, the art of weaving and their unique connection to sacred sites, the Mamos and Sagas interpret the will and needs of nature and how we, as humans, can support or threaten her in the immense task of keeping life alive. In a time of ecological unraveling, the Kogi remind us that the Earth and life are not a resource, but a living being to be listened to—and cared for.
Among all the Indigenous Peoples of the Sierra Nevada—including the Kogi, but also the Wiwa, Arhuaco and Kankuamo—weaving is a living ritual, a thread that binds them to ancestral tradition and cosmology. It is intertwined with daily life, used in the construction of homes as well as of clothing: men weave clothing on looms and hats with needles, while women weave mochilas, traditional bags rich with meaning. Yet weaving isn’t just function, it is ceremony—joining the Kogi and other tribes to their origin story, in which the nine worlds of creation are held together by a giant spindle. As fiber is spun into thread, the connection between the dimensions of the worlds is activated. Thought and memory become form.
Each tribe’s textiles carry distinct patterns and colors, encoding family lineage, territorial belonging and spiritual messages. One could even say that weaving is an original language, in which nature speaks through pattern—patterns that echo ancient symbols that have been etched for generations on the stone walls of sacred indigenous sites that dot the Sierra Nevada and whose connection keeps her alive and vital.
The materials used in mochilas also carry spiritual significance. Cotton, particularly white Scorpion cotton and colored heirloom varieties, are believed to be divinely given, and serve as a bridge between invisible and visible dimensions. Fique, drawn from the agave plant, is tied to traditional craft and endemic ecology. And the often-vibrant colors—derived from natural plant dyes—are not chosen lightly, but are often designated for a single family, requiring spiritual authorization to use. Each mochila can take up to two months to complete—woven slowly, with intention, by hand.
Today, these proud expressions of the Kogi, Wiwa and Arhuaco’s precolonial identities are increasingly at risk, as craft techniques have been modernized and shifting agricultural practices mean that traditional fibers have been replaced by polyester and other synthetics. For these reasons, we are collaborating with three collectives of Arhuaco, Wiwa and Kogi weavers in the Rio Ancho River Basin, Don Diego River Basin, Palomino River Basin, and Buritaca River Basin. Together they are spinning cotton grown in the Sierra Nevada and weaving mochilas based on traditional designs. These projects support not only cultural preservation, but also the economic empowerment of women, who can contribute income to their household economies while tending to their families and sustaining traditions.
Each mochila is more than a bag. It is a symbolic vessel, a container of memory and meaning, an invitation to encounter the sacred within the everyday. “In the end, the only thing that you take away with you is what you put inside your mochila,” the Kogi saying goes. By wearing one with intention, we can all feel this connection transmitted from the invisible to the material realm.
