Chile · Traditional Mapuche coiled and hand-modeled earthenware
Wizüfe
Wizüfe, a traditional Mapuche pottery technique of Chile's Araucanía region, whose mastery and public promotion earned ceramist Dominga Neculmán Mariqueo, of the rural village of Roble Huacho, Padre Las Casas, formal recognition as a Chilean Living Human Treasure (Tesoro Humano Vivo) in 2011. Born in 1937 into the Mapuche community of Juan Mariqueo, Neculmán grew up with both her mother and grandmother as potters, learning wizüfe directly within this three-generation maternal lineage before going on, across a career spanning more than eight decades, to become one of the technique's most celebrated and publicly recognized exponents, earning the Lorenzo Berg Award in 1986 and, in the year of her death, the honorary title Illustrious Daughter of Padre Las Casas. Neculmán died on December 5, 2022, at her home village, at age 84 or 85, having sustained and publicly represented wizüfe pottery as a distinct, formally documented technique within Chile's broader indigenous ceramics landscape.
Risk level: Endangered · Not Applicable — no UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage inscription exists for this specific craft at time of writing
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