Mate De Coca.

“Mate de coca” was created and inspired by my experience traveling and gathering materials in Peru. About one year ago, I came up with the idea of creating a series of illustrations related to world building around herbs and flowers that incorporated cultural and historical aspects to these herbs.  Mate de coca is an herbal tea made using raw or dried leaves of the coca plant.It is a common drink for native South Americans and local people. Coming from a personal background that highly stigmatizes drugs and drug use, I found new ways of understanding one’s relationship with the coca plant and grew to deeply appreciate how Peruvians enjoy herbs and plants as a gift of nature. I add this to my series to share an interesting tea type, the local usage of the herb and to capture the coziness of life. Unlike my other works, I used less line work for this piece and concentrated on exploring new textures to create sensations of dryness and warmth.