Description

The term mestizaje often refers to the mixture of religious beliefs, practices, customs, languages, and traditions between the native population of Mesoamerica and the Spanish colonialists.

This work of oil on woven palm represents the change that took place as a result of that combination. The addition of beliefs and customs that arrived with the Spanish to a place previously untouched by European influence and which was home to a distinct worldview. The plumed serpent god emerging from a rolled palm fiber mat signals the arrival of the cultural encounter. The petate, or palm mat, represents the constant state of change in which the world exists. Stated in the popular vernacular, “one is born, grows, and dies on a petate.”

Media

  • Oil paints
  • Woven palm mat substrate
  • Red cedar pintura acrílica
  • Turkey, macaw and peacock feathers

Dimensions

  • Height: 125 cm
  • Width: 90 cm
  • Depth: 50 cm

Artists

Mestizaje foto de catálogo