Vision y Tradición- Collaboration with mexican craftpeople

                                   

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NEPOHUALTZINTZIN Abacus folding screen

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I grew up in Mexico surrounded by folk art, from market pieces to museums, on rare occasions he knew little more than the place of origin or material, or thought about the process of creation and the way of life of artisans. Participating in Vision and Tradition has been a tasting of this seductive artistic activity. The residence in the horn workshop, in the community of Yaxunah, was an immersion in the life and customs of our past and present Mayan culture. A coexistence with a language sung in poem, accompanied by wild plums and handmade tortillas. The horn carving and setting is an ancestral technique, worked in this workshop formed by a group of men and women full of energy and complicity. The magic of the transformation of a dirty horn, just arrived from the trail, until the final jewel, caused that from the conceptualization of the piece we decided to do "the most difficult", to show the skills of the group in transformation, carving, draft and assembly . Taking advantage of the transparency of its nuances that range from amber to black, the texture and the grain of the material, we decided to make a screen that in a practical sense can simply separate spaces, but that symbolically represents the latent feeling of the existence of two realities in a same Mexico José Alfredo Caamal says that they did not know what they were going to do with an architecture of the city and in the end combining two visions arises The BIOMBO NEPOHULTZINTZIN, representation of the ancient Mayan abacus. Seeking to recognize, disseminate and strengthen traditional techniques, so that new generations continue with the creation of the pieces as a way of life.

 

 

 

Location:                         Yaxunah Yucatán · National Anthropoly and History Museum​

Design Team:                    Ximena Diaz · Craftpeople from Yaxunah

Year:                               2019​

Designers:                    Verónica González Zavala

Craftspeople:                Claudia May, Bernardina Uichab Chuc, Martina Ek Chi, Raquel Noh Noh, Isidro Canul Cuxin, Ildefonso Canul Cuxin,

                                      José Alfredo Caamal Balam, José Elías Chuc Caamal, Luciana Canul Tamay, Jacinto Teci Mex, Ruth Canul Tamay, Pablo Ay Camal

Community:                   YAXUNAH e ITZINCAB

Technique:                    carved and draft in bones 

Dimensions:                  1.20m x 1.60m x 5 cm (open)