Painting Workshop
in K'at'ixtik

The Tsotsil artist Maruch Méndez, from the municipality of Chamula, decided to hold a workshop in the small town of K’at’ixtik to teach young people an alternative activity to spend their time on. The workshop began with an exhibition of some of Maruch’s paintings, where she shared the materials she uses, how she applies them, the meaning behind her brushstrokes and colors, and her various sources of inspiration. This was intended to share the elements involved in painting a work of art and to encourage participants to lose their fear of the materials.

The artist prepared several palettes with the tones she usually employs in her works, teaching how to mix colors beyond the ready-made ones. The workshop turned into a space of communal engagement, where most participants had never worked with the materials provided. A shared aesthetic could be seen among them in the use of color and forms of representation. At the end of the workshop, the participants gave brief explanations of each piece they had created.