Source: Courtesy of Museo Larco / Museo Larco
A recent art exhibit in Lima, Peru used art for good in an unexpected—yet creative way.
Displayed in all its glory at the city’s Museo Larco, ancient erotic art ceramics created by the pre-Columbian Moche civilization in Northern Peru were showcased to educate and encourage the art-seeking masses to check for early signs of prostate and testicular cancer.
The “Touch the Genitals of the Mochicas” exhibit was opened in late Feb and put on in partnership with the Peruvian extension of League Against Cancer.
The artwork featured in the curation, known as huacos, depicts sculptural replicas of sex organs and subjects engaged in various sex acts.
Male attendees were encouraged to acquaint themselves with the artifacts by touching the genitals of the artwork and, in addition, learn how to do self-checks for prostate and testicular cancer.
“Timely detection of cancer of the external genitalia in men, both of the penis and testicles, is very low,” nurse Giselle Grillo from the League Against Cancer shared with Reuters. “Many do not know how to explore their genitals, what palpation is. With this we give an early diagnosis.”
The League of Cancer’s data outlined that around 10,000 cases of prostate, penile and testicular cancer in Peru were diagnosed in 2021, yet 45% of those were already in an advanced stage with little hope of being cured.
“The aim is to bring closer the knowledge of our ancestors about the human body, expressed through these ceramic vessels that we call the Erotic Huacos,” emphasized Museo Larco Director Ulla Holmquist.
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The Moche lived from 100 to 800 AD, and Museo Larco detailed that the civilization’s artists made Mochica pottery “under the supervision of priests and great lords.”
The ancient artisans’ naturalistic and realistic-looking sculptures were created by the craftsmen’s “fine line technique.” Subsequently, the civilization was able to leave behind sculptures still being revered today for their “high degree of artistic development”… and sexual education purposes.
If you’re interested, read more about Mochica art via the museum’s website here.
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