Chonon Bensho
Bio/CV
Available works
Chonon Bensho
Chonon Bensho
Chonon Bensho (b. 1992) is a Shipibo-Konibo artist from the Peruvian Amazon, who lives and works in Pucallpa (Ucayali). She studied at the Escuela Superior de Formación Artística Eduardo Meza Saravia, graduating in 2018 with an artist- ethnographic thesis on Kené designs.
Her practice is grounded in a distinct visual language in which academic art techniques converge with the heritage of ancient Shipibo artists. Her work can be understood as a form of modern, intercultural Indigenous art—vibrant and contemporary, yet marked by a sense of timelessness through a symbolic and archetypal vocabulary. While engaging with Western influences, Bensho’s work remains deeply rooted in the ancestral narratives of the Shipibo-Konibo people, as well as in traditional medicine, medicinal plants, and the spiritual world of healing beings.
Her practice is grounded in a distinct visual language in which academic art techniques converge with the heritage of ancient Shipibo artists. Her work can be understood as a form of modern, intercultural Indigenous art—vibrant and contemporary, yet marked by a sense of timelessness through a symbolic and archetypal vocabulary. While engaging with Western influences, Bensho’s work remains deeply rooted in the ancestral narratives of the Shipibo-Konibo people, as well as in traditional medicine, medicinal plants, and the spiritual world of healing beings.
Bio/CV
Chonon Bensho
Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Americas Society, New York (2025–2026); Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) (2023–2025); Guild Hall (2024); Kode Art Museum (2024); and Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle Neuchâtel (2024), among others. Her solo exhibitions include “Biri biri imaboi / Your fingertips will glow”, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), New York (2026); “MALOCA”, Cervieri Monsuarez Foundation (2025); “Eariki”, Livia Benavides Gallery, Lima (2024); “JONE JONIBO: Los seres espirituales de Chonon Bensho”, Museo Central (MUCEN), Lima (2023); a solo exhibition at W Gallery, Buenos Aires (2023);“Inin Niwe y el mundo puro de los seres eternos”, Centro Cultural Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Lima (2022); “Metsá Nete: The Beautiful Visionary World of Chonon Bensho”, Alliance Française de Lima (2021); and “A River, a Snake, a Map in the Sky”, Culture Scapes Art Festival, Basel (2021).
Her work is part of public collections such as the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Museo Central (MUCEN), Denver Art Museum, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art, Ama Amoedo Foundation, and the Jubiläumsstiftung der Mobiliar, among others.
In 2022, she received the National Painting Prize awarded by the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú, becoming the first Indigenous woman to receive this distinction. In 2021, she was named Artist of the Month by “Art from Heart”. Bensho has also collaborated in ethnographic research and publications, and is co-author of Non Onan Shinan: Los mundos medicinales ylasabiduríadeunafamiliashipibo-konibo.Shedevelopsartistic,educational,andenvironmentalprojectsinhercommunity, including a cultural cooperative, a reforestation initiative, and the ethnobotanical garden Nishi Nete.
Her work is part of public collections such as the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Museo Central (MUCEN), Denver Art Museum, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art, Ama Amoedo Foundation, and the Jubiläumsstiftung der Mobiliar, among others.
In 2022, she received the National Painting Prize awarded by the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú, becoming the first Indigenous woman to receive this distinction. In 2021, she was named Artist of the Month by “Art from Heart”. Bensho has also collaborated in ethnographic research and publications, and is co-author of Non Onan Shinan: Los mundos medicinales ylasabiduríadeunafamiliashipibo-konibo.Shedevelopsartistic,educational,andenvironmentalprojectsinhercommunity, including a cultural cooperative, a reforestation initiative, and the ethnobotanical garden Nishi Nete.
Available works
“Menin ainbobo (las bordadoras de gran habilidad)”, 2025
158.5 x 135 cm
Embroidery on fabric
Chonon Bensho
Chonon Bensho (b. 1992) is a Shipibo-Konibo artist from the Peruvian Amazon, who lives and works in Pucallpa (Ucayali). She studied at the Escuela Superior de Formación Artística Eduardo Meza Saravia, graduating in 2018 with an artist- ethnographic thesis on Kené designs.
Her practice is grounded in a distinct visual language in which academic art techniques converge with the heritage of ancient Shipibo artists. Her work can be understood as a form of modern, intercultural Indigenous art—vibrant and contemporary, yet marked by a sense of timelessness through a symbolic and archetypal vocabulary. While engaging with Western influences, Bensho’s work remains deeply rooted in the ancestral narratives of the Shipibo-Konibo people, as well as in traditional medicine, medicinal plants, and the spiritual world of healing beings.
Her practice is grounded in a distinct visual language in which academic art techniques converge with the heritage of ancient Shipibo artists. Her work can be understood as a form of modern, intercultural Indigenous art—vibrant and contemporary, yet marked by a sense of timelessness through a symbolic and archetypal vocabulary. While engaging with Western influences, Bensho’s work remains deeply rooted in the ancestral narratives of the Shipibo-Konibo people, as well as in traditional medicine, medicinal plants, and the spiritual world of healing beings.
Chonon Bensho
Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Americas Society, New York (2025–2026); Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) (2023–2025); Guild Hall (2024); Kode Art Museum (2024); and Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle Neuchâtel (2024), among others. Her solo exhibitions include “Biri biri imaboi / Your fingertips will glow”, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), New York (2026); “MALOCA”, Cervieri Monsuarez Foundation (2025); “Eariki”, Livia Benavides Gallery, Lima (2024); “JONE JONIBO: Los seres espirituales de Chonon Bensho”, Museo Central (MUCEN), Lima (2023); a solo exhibition at W Gallery, Buenos Aires (2023);“Inin Niwe y el mundo puro de los seres eternos”, Centro Cultural Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Lima (2022); “Metsá Nete: The Beautiful Visionary World of Chonon Bensho”, Alliance Française de Lima (2021); and “A River, a Snake, a Map in the Sky”, Culture Scapes Art Festival, Basel (2021).
Her work is part of public collections such as the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Museo Central (MUCEN), Denver Art Museum, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art, Ama Amoedo Foundation, and the Jubiläumsstiftung der Mobiliar, among others.
In 2022, she received the National Painting Prize awarded by the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú, becoming the first Indigenous woman to receive this distinction. In 2021, she was named Artist of the Month by “Art from Heart”. Bensho has also collaborated in ethnographic research and publications, and is co-author of Non Onan Shinan: Los mundos medicinales ylasabiduríadeunafamiliashipibo-konibo.Shedevelopsartistic,educational,andenvironmentalprojectsinhercommunity, including a cultural cooperative, a reforestation initiative, and the ethnobotanical garden Nishi Nete.
Her work is part of public collections such as the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Museo Central (MUCEN), Denver Art Museum, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art, Ama Amoedo Foundation, and the Jubiläumsstiftung der Mobiliar, among others.
In 2022, she received the National Painting Prize awarded by the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú, becoming the first Indigenous woman to receive this distinction. In 2021, she was named Artist of the Month by “Art from Heart”. Bensho has also collaborated in ethnographic research and publications, and is co-author of Non Onan Shinan: Los mundos medicinales ylasabiduríadeunafamiliashipibo-konibo.Shedevelopsartistic,educational,andenvironmentalprojectsinhercommunity, including a cultural cooperative, a reforestation initiative, and the ethnobotanical garden Nishi Nete.
“Menin ainbobo (las bordadoras de gran habilidad)”, 2025
158.5 x 135 cm
Embroidery on fabric