Tray Tray Ko

Chile, 2022. Director Seba Calfuqueo. 6min.

Meaning ‘big waterfall’, Tray Tray Ko draws on the centrality of the trayenko (waterfall) in Mapuche culture and mythology. Water bodies and their flows carry a sacred significance in Mapuche cosmovision, as they are linked to the vitality of the lawen, which are medicinal herbs that grow by water. In Calfuqueo's performance, we follow her body moving through a forest, pulling a long, deep-blue fabric towards a river, culminating in a waterfall. Calfuqueo's body merges with its waters in an arduous effort to hold the long fabric towards the cascading waterfall. This ceremonial journey illuminates the intimate connection and reciprocity between Indigenous bodies and ancestral territories. As Calfuqueo moves through the landscape, her form becomes a conduit for ancient knowledge and resistance. The vivid blue fabric traces her path like a living current, evoking too the Shumpall, a water deity that escapes gender binary definitions. Through this ritual, Tray Tray Ko offers a meditation on water as a vital element for life and physical sustenance while also celebrating the potential of water to escape gender binary categorisation. 

Past screenings

Grounded: Fashion’s Entanglements with Nature – London
Thursday 22 May 2025, 16:00 | Regent Street Cinema
With introduction by guest curator Maria Cunha (CREAM, University of Westminster).