Bandera(s) mapuche, diseño e historia: Entrevista a Jorge Weke a 30 años del “Wenüfoye”

Abstract

Ad portas to the fifth centenary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the baptized American continent, the Mapuche communities associated with the Aukin Wallmapu Ngulam, or Council of All Lands, carried out several actions in order to reflect on the implications of this fact, along with advancing in what was called “ideological decolonization”. One of these actions was a creative and collective process that initially gave rise to five flags of the Mapuche Territorial Identities as a previous step of a "single flag", later called Wenüfoye. Years after its first exhibition, on October 6, 1992, the Wenüfoye has established itself as an automatic reference point for the Mapuche in the contemporary world.

The development of these flags was carried out in conjunction with various communities that gathered to talk and discuss the symbolism and configurations that the emblems could present. Jorge Weke, Mapuche-Williche graphic designer, was responsible for listening, annotating and materializing the voices and ideas of this process, outlining pre-designs and synthesizing the final proposals. Faced with the growing importance that the flag has acquired, dimly clarified aspects of its history, the appearance of other flags, and the potentialities of similar participatory processes, an interview with the designer responsible for it is presented. The diversity of ideas and designs that the process brought together, their collaborative quality, and some aspects of the conditions of possibility of contemporary Mapuche materialities emerge from the interview.