San Cristóbal de Las Casas. Chiapas, México
Material Art Fair
We’re at Material Art Fair
Expo Reforma, CDMX · February 6–10, 2025
Announcement A-3
Three Masters of Sculpture and Painting
Maya Artists from Chiapas, Mexico
We welcome you to the MUY Artistic Space (or Galería MUY) at Material Art Fair 2025.
MUY promotes contemporary art by creators of Maya and Zoque descent from the state of Chiapas, Mexico. We were honored to receive the Hennessy Prize in 2019 for the best project at Material. With 10 years of experience and multiple collective curatorial exhibitions involving 20 artists in all visual art media (www.galeriamuy.org), this year we are proud to present the recent works of three masters of sculpture and painting:
PH Joel (Tseltal, Francisco Villa, Ocosingo)
Originating from a village in the Lacandon Jungle, self-taught in the great Maya civilization, trained as an anthropologist, and winner of last year’s International Contest for Artists Belonging to Minorities awarded by the UN, PH Joel (1992, Joel Pérez Hernández) returns to Material with works that brilliantly intertwine concept and material.
“I play with fire (and clay, pigments, lines, and imaginary images), creating unique pieces that blend times (past, present, and future). I use materials from the Lacandon Jungle. Behind the play lies a powerful statement in favor of the Maya by the Maya,” writes the young master.
P.T’ul (Tsotsil, Chonomyakilo’, San Andrés Larraínzar)
A member of an illustrious family immersed in the traditional textile arts, P.T’ul (Pedro Gómez, 1997) reclaims artisanal dexterity, informed by his philosophical understanding of indigenous wisdom, to create pieces of inspired (in)genuity as a self-taught artist. With hands to the earth, figures and allegories emerge from the rich symbolic-narrative Maya-Tsotsil tradition, completing concepts he learned from his parents and grandparents. He now enlists the help of his sister (Ceci Gómez, also an artist) to explain his works to visitors at Material.
Kayum Ma’ax (Lacandon, Nahá, Ocosingo, 1962)
One of the most traditionalist figures from this renowned village deeply rooted in the Lacandon Jungle, Master Kayum (now recognized by awards and documentaries about his life) took up the paintbrush at an early age under the guidance of his godmother, explorer Trudi Duby Blom. He used his discovery (of art) as a meditation on nature and the condition of his people and humanity, revealing an extraordinary gift for allegorical storytelling that astonishes, delights, and educates both newcomers and initiates into his metaphysical world. Nahá (a community of 250 people) has only been “open to the world” for three generations.
Migration Project
Instituto Mora
Contact: Martha Alejandro
📞 +52 967 127 058
We are at your service:
- Martha Alejandro, Director/Coordinator
- Maya Juracán, Chief Curator
- Berenice Valdez, Migration Coordinator
- PH Joel, Artist
- Cecy Gómez, Artist
- John Burstein, Emeritus Director
Artworks
Cultural Collaboration | P.T’ul
Terracotta
39 x 19 x 23 cm
2021
“This piece speaks about unity, when traditional authorities come together, raising their voices to invoke the well-being of the community. The j’ilol (healer) is floating; she heals both the physical and the soul, serves as a guide in dreams, and acts as a midwife. They are the ones responsible for the care of everyone.
In the palm of the hand lies the woman, the mother who creates life, fosters growth, transmits memory, and imparts the knowledge that forms communal identity. The hand represents our root of origin.”
Food Processing | P.T´ul
Terracotta
32 x 22.4 x 28.5 cm
2019
“The foods sown today have undergone changes in both planting practices and preparation. My grandparents still follow the moon’s signs for planting; they believe in the soul of the earth and its life-giving fertility for humans. People used to live healthier and longer lives, thanks to the old ways of working the land. For food preparation, they used clay pots and the metate to grind corn.”
Ta yibel te´etik (Among Roots) | P.T’ul
Local Clay from San Ramón and Oxides
30 x 14.5 x 1 cm
2020
“One way of healing that I saw in my childhood was observing that the roots had healing properties. My grandmothers would apply them to wounds to prevent infections and heal them in a short time. Living in the countryside, far from hospitals and modern treatments, our community was more prepared in the use of nature.”
The Eye | P.T’ul
Local Clay from San Ramón and Oxides
27 cm x 24 cm
2020
“This work is constructed through the iconography of textiles from the Maya communities. Their points are connected, forming a star. In the background, there is an eye with a large gaze. It is the one that watches over, observes, and illuminates the survival of indigenous peoples when they face difficulties.”
Life Line | P.T´ul
Acrylic on Canvas
17 x 25 cm
2022
“There are dreams we have as individuals, there are projects, and nature and life complement each other. But the chaotic society around us sometimes makes us lose our footing.”
M’etik balumil (Mother Earth) | P.T’ul
Terracotta
42 x 21 x16 cm
2021
“A mother carries her baby. The baby represents the sower who has come to the land to work it, plant, harvest fruits, and establish communication and dialogue. He gazes attentively at all the natural signs, such as strong winds, droughts, and also when offerings are made to show appreciation.
A person must be united with their nahual, the guardian animal given to us since birth. The tlacuache (opossum) is represented on the chest and between the belly, where signs from our surroundings and our health state are perceived.”
Vestiges of a Prayer | PH Joel
Melted Candles on Canvas and Stone
27 x 27 cm
2022
“This series of works is inspired by the floors of churches in indigenous communities, which, after the rituals performed by hundreds of parishioners during the festive days, become covered in melted candles, mixed with chicken feathers, rose petals, copal ashes, pine leaves, and prayers. Each fragment is a vestige of human faith toward the gods.”
The Punishment | PH Joel
Griddle decorated with pigments from the Lacandon Jungle
47 cm diameter
2023
“This piece is inspired by The Rebellion of the Hanged (by B. Traven), which tells the story of the timber exploitation in the Lacandon Jungle. Indigenous hands that were forced to destroy their own home – Mother Earth – to survive the misery and slavery caused by companies selling precious woods in international markets. (The rivers served as a path to plunder this ‘green gold,’ as historian Jan de Vos called it.)
(PH Joel thanks Darwin Cruz for his collaboration on this work.)”
Clay Drum | PH Joel
clay, slips, and pigments from the Lacandon Jungle, cowhide, and threads
38 x 16.6 cm.
2023
“The relief of this piece, in the shape of a drum, is inspired by the roots of trees that grow on rocks or other trees. The painted part represents a contemporary celebration, with euphoric young people consuming cigarettes, beers, and blasting music.
I grew up in the Lacandon Jungle, and although I never saw a clay drum, I knew they were once used. I made this drum to bring forth sounds, with the intention of counteracting the electric pianos that are becoming more and more popular in the Jungle, which even change the way people used to dance. This drum won’t stop transformations, but it does help me learn to play it and accompany me in the agricultural and religious festivals of the communities.”
Bajlum | PH Joel
Clay, pigments from the jungle, and ixtle (fiber)
2020
25 x 20 x 16 cm
“In Chiapas, the ancient inhabitants drew inspiration for the designs of their textiles from the dream world, nature, and their ancestors. Through these, they created symbolic languages, embedding them in their clothing. Today, new trends are being created where the market dictates what is made and reproduced. From this reflection, I was inspired to transform the spots of the jaguar into QR codes as a symbol representing the digitalization stage of both the local and global markets we are currently experiencing, a phenomenon to which the indigenous world is not foreign.”
Agony | PH Joel
Tree Bark, Seed of the Jungle
110 x 80 cm
2025
A huipil made from tree bark, a garment that was part of the tradition and identity of the jungle communities before the trade of industrial fabrics. Today, with the impact of globalization, capitalism, and virtuality, the communities and the jungle are in agony due to the constant transformation/destruction of the practices that kept them in harmony with their natural and spiritual environment. This is further compounded by the wave of violence that is also hurting the jungle territory.
Max | PH Joel
Tree Bark, Seed of the Jungle, Feathers, Thorns, and Electronic Device Chargers
96 x 59 cm
2025
It is the zoomorphic representation of the current state of consumption and dependence on electronic devices and online shopping apps in the jungle communities. It is a new and fervent trend of acquiring distant, new products that become part of daily life, displacing the practice of making their own clothing and even growing their own food. Similarly, there is a growing population engaged in virtual work from their electronic devices.
Artifact Against Forgetting | PH Joel
Mixed media created from everyday and ritual objects of the Lacandon Jungle communities.
30 x 33 x 37.5 cm
2025
It is a series of pieces in the form of helmets or headgear meant to protect the memory of the jungle communities. In a world where the younger population is no longer interested in learning, inheriting, or living the knowledge of our grandparents, in the not-so-distant future, electronic devices and memory storage will become the home of our gods, songs, prayers, and other knowledge that once defined our identity and is rapidly fading into oblivion.
Each of the helmets represents an activity that was once carried out in the jungle villages but no longer makes sense or has a place in this new way of life. They are made with materials that are both everyday and ritualistic, such as shells, bones, seeds, and tree barks, which enclose knowledge that was passed down by digging into the memory of the inhabitants—how these things were made, for what purpose, and why they have stopped being used. Thus, the helmets become records of that knowledge, but also catalysts for dialogue to rethink the practices of the community’s inhabitants.
Verde indio | PH Joel
A hand-carved wooden mask, decorated with aluminum tiles
24 x 18 x 9 cm.
2024
A hand-carved wooden mask covered with beer can fragments, evoking the jade masks found in the tombs of Mayan kings. The piece encapsulates the stereotypes that societies have of indigenous peoples, often used as images or narratives in advertising campaigns, as if the face, lifestyle, or identity of these peoples were mere merchandise.
Elemental ingredients | PH Joel
Clay from the Lacandon Jungle, without glaze, decorated with pigment extracted from clays of the jungle.
10.5 x 18 x 14 cm
2019
“In this piece, I let the nature of the material and the clay-based pigments express themselves, being aware that in the manipulation of the earth and its contact with water and fire, the artist does not have total control over it. Therefore, it is the pure expression of the earth.”
Bor y Koh | Kayum Ma´ax
Acrylic on canvas
65 x 40 cm
2019
My grandfather and grandmother travel very far, they stay in a shelter, a place to rest.
The way of living at home | Kayum Ma´ax
Acrylic on canvas
100 X 80 cm
2019
“50 years ago, they slept under the shade of a tree. They warmed themselves by the campfire against the cold. Their mattress was made of guatapil leaves (a type of jungle palm). To endure the rain, they also used hammocks and guatapil leaves. This is the Lacandon Maya tradition. I paint the place where we lived: the Guineo Lagoon (Itsah Nohkuh, guardian god of the jungle) in the heart of the jungle, in the land of Cibal (a communal ejido).”
The Najá Jungle in My Memories | Kayum Ma´ax
Acrylic on canvas
66 x 78.5 cm
2023
“Years ago, my relatives would go to work in the cornfield, clearing and harvesting the crops; they would return in the afternoon. In the canoe are Chan K’in Antonio, Old Mateo, Old Chan K’in García, Young Chan K’in García; and K’in García is the one sitting. The canoes were widely used, along with their traditional attire.”
The jaguar | Kayum Ma´ax
Acrylic on canvas
40.5 x 50.3 cm
2020
He didn’t know what had to happen to himself. The jaguar changes color due to age, shadow and light, it changed to black. The jaguar did not want to have stains on his clothes and that is why he changed.
The stream never dries up | Kayum Ma´ax
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 50 cm
2023
“The stream never dries up because it is surrounded by trees; that’s why there are still crabs and snails.”